Fans’ fury at £2,000 for Europa League final tickets
TICKETS for Manchester United’s Europa League final date with Ajax are already exchanging hands for as much as £2,000 per ticket.
Jose Mourinho’s men reached the final after a 2-1 aggregate win over Celta Vigo, but it leaves supporters facing an expensive dilemma.
UEFA’s decision to stage the final at the Friends Arena in Stockholm means that United will only receive around 10,000 tickets.
Although the stadium has a capacity of 50,000, a fifth of those are reserved for partners, sponsors and officials, while 17,000 have already been allocated to ‘neutral fans’ via a ballot.
And those who secured their tickets that way are already seizing the opportunity to sell them on to United supporters for more than ten times their face value.
One pair were listed on ebay for a price of £8,000, but appear to have been removed.
However, a pair together for £4,000 remain on the website.
Tickets have already gone for as much as £1,800 per pair.
United have messaged supporters to invite applications for the club ballot, but with such a small allocation of tickets many regular match-goers will be left disappointed.
In an email sent out to fans this week bosses said only season ticket holders who have purchased tickets for all home cup games and have applied for or attended one European away game since the start of last season are eligible.
Executive Members who have attended one European away game can also apply to join the ballot with the deadline on May 15.
Exact allocations are yet to be confirmed, but UEFA have previously said from these around 10,000 tickets will be made available to each finalist priced between 45 and 150 Euros.
But United have warned supporters their allocation could be as low as 8,000 depending on the segregation required.
The remaining 17,000 have already been sold to ‘neutral’ fans via a ballot on the UEFA website earlier this year.
Duncan Drasdo, CEO of the Manchester United Supporters Trust, said: “It’s a massive kick in the teeth for a lot of people.
“Eight thousand in a 50,000-seater stadium is just ridiculous.”
It’s a massive kick in the teeth. Eight thousand in a 50,000-seater stadium is just ridiculous Duncan Drasdo