A PERFECT STORM FOR TICKET TOUTS

Cologne’s first European game for 25 years is at Arsenal, easy to reach, with a big stadium.

After 20 years of Champions League football, Arsenal fans found the Europa League far less appealing.

Only 3,000 tickets were allocated to the German club. More than 20,000 members registered for the ticket lottery.

Arsenal rejected Cologne’s pleas for more tickets.

Tickets elsewhere in the Emirates were priced cheaply, some for less than £20.

The match was sold out, at which point the ticket exchange for re-sales was opened.

Arsenal fear touts have infiltrated the membership scheme, enabling them to buy multiple tickets and sell on the secondary market.

Cologne fans were willing to pay any price and had no problem finding tickets on the streets of London but most were in the Arsenal sections of the ground.