UEFA Announce Champions League Final Ticket Prices, They Aren’t Cheap!

Chris Wright

18th, February 2011

16 Comments

By Chris Wright

Fan groups are reacting angrily today after UEFA announced just before the close of play last night that the ‘cheap seats’ on general sale for this year’s Champions League final at Wembley will be priced at an astronomical £176 (that’s £150 plus a £26 admin charge), a price hike of nearly 15% up from last year’s prices.

Roughly 11,000 tickets have been earmarked for neutral supporters, and will cost £150, £225 and £300 (all with the £26 booking fee lumped on top) depending on which tier you wish to sit, thus taking the cost of four tickets in the cheapest category (C) to £652.

The cheapest tickets for supporters of the two clubs that reach the final will be a relatively modest £80, though UEFA are yet to confirm how many of the 50,000 seats that will be shared between fans of the two finalists will fall into that bracket.

Understandably, Malcolm Clarke, the chairman of the Football Supporters’ Federation, is not a happy bunny:

“These prices are absolutely outrageous and take ticket pricing to an absurdly stratospheric new level.

“In a difficult economic climate, not only in this country but across Europe where supporters may be coming from, this represents disgraceful exploitation of fans.

“The £26 administration fee represents the cherry on a particularly disgusting cake. There is absolutely no way of justifying such a high fee and UEFA should be ashamed of themselves.”

However, speaking at the ticket launch ceremony, UEFA’s director of competitions Giorgio Marchetti was insistent that the rising prices are merely in line with other comparable sporting spectacles:

“The prices are based on the type of event and when you compare it to other events we don’t think that the Champions League final is overpriced.

“We have to benchmark this event against other comparable events like for example the final of the Euros and the World Cup.

“We do not want to squeeze every single penny out of the market.”

You know what? I think I might just watch it on telly again this year.

Posted in Champions League

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16 Comments

  1. RedSkywalker says:

    This is all F*****g ridiculous. In SA you could buy a ticket to the WORLD CUP FINAL for about 1000 rand (about 75 Pounds) and I thought that was overpriced.

  2. Chris B says:

    Wow, people are complaining about these prices? That’s cheap! What do the Supporters’ Federation expect a game of this magnitude to cost, the same as a league match at Molineux? If my team were in the Champions League final, I’d be happy to pay these prices for a once-in-a-lifetime event. As an English neutral, well… Think about how often this will be played in England, then decide if such a special event is worth something extra. I’d say it is, and Wembley will no doubt be full to the rafters.

    Here in the States, tickets to any championship game are waaaay more expensive. The face value of the cheapest Super Bowl ticket is $800. Unless you’re lucky enough to be first in line, you’re probably buying your seats from a ticket broker (scalper) for many times more.

    By comparison, an MLS Cup final ticket is probably less than a cup of coffee. Ho-hum.

  3. Chris B says:

    @Red – didn’t know the WC final was so cheap, probably adjusted for the local economy. I guess we’re just being screwed over here – a ticket to the 1994 WC final in California was $475 back then. If someone will buy it, someone will sell it.

  4. Sobibo says:

    I won’t go either, even if my favorite club reach the final. To charge more than £50 for any game of footy (even the CL final) is a complete RIP-OFF.

    And the World Cup final is a global event only occuring once every 4 years, they cannot compare it with the CL final. Liars and thieves.

    Anyway, I have a better view on my big-screen TV, for FREE

  5. Rob says:

    Chris B, just because tickets in the USA are so much more expensive it doesn’t mean that the Champions League ones are cheap. They are anything but that. It’s just another example of rich people taking advantage of the fans, especially when you think that the people who decided on these prices will be watching the game in the most expensive seats for free. As you said, the stadium will be packed; people who can afford to go will pay and the rest of the stadium will be filled with corporate and commercial snobs. Real fans of football will have to make do with watching on the tele. I just wish we could make a stand and refuse but it’s not going to happen.

  6. Chris B says:

    Hey, I agree with all of you. Also consider that, like US sports, the majority of profit comes not from ticket sales but from television rights.

    You’d think that UEFA would realize that a stadium full of rabid fans makes for a much better TV spectacle.

    How much is the average Premier League ticket, anyway?

  7. Ryan says:

    Ridiculous. All ticket holders should get a handy upon entrance for that price.

  8. Hirsty says:

    Well there’s a simple way to get the point across….DON’T BUY THEM. Alas, football fans, like all sports fans, will forever complain about pricing, yet go and pay it anyway. No wonder they more or less charge what they want.

  9. MR. T says:

    iwannago!! but i dont hav moneys

  10. Jimbo says:

    seriously dude this isn’t america
    six years ago i was paying around £30 average for good seats at Old Trafford. i paid forty quid for moscow tickets and there were amazing. these tickets are outrageous for England. i seriously hope we don’t become like america, where this is okay

  11. Montesquieu says:

    Mr. T, are you a cat?

  12. Jose says:

    well I’m just gonna DVR it again, since here it starts around 9am for London’s prime time…

  13. Barrie says:

    Disgusting prices! This was Michel Platini’s reasoning behind moving the Champions League final to Saturday:

    “I also hope that playing the Uefa Champions League final on a Saturday will give families, especially children, the chance to see the game.”
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/7120518.stm

    Perhaps families watching the final on TV was on his mind when he said that…

  14. AussieGooner says:

    @ Chris B…are you serious?? Tickets to watch 2 American teams play in an American only competition, in a sport that is as boring as batsh!t start at $800!!!! Faaarrrrk, those yanks are stupid.

  15. TravisKOP says:

    LA galaxy season tickets are about $700 for the whole season, imagine spending that much just for one game. . .

  16. Lotus Tree says:

    I agree tickets way too expensive but there are some serious fans out there not wanting to miss out on witnessing their club’s history.

    Btw I got a spare final ticket available to a true fan!
    For full details on visit http://www.lotustree.co.uk/notice-board.html

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