IT’S GAME ON FOR THE TOUTS
Euro 2020 resale open to abuse, say fans groups
A scheme set up to resell unwanted Euro 2020 tickets will be abused by touts , supporters’ groups have claimed.
Football fans were last week k told if their online application for r briefs had been successful.
More than 19million people e applied to be put in a ballot for r just 1.5million tickets released for or matches held in stadiums across ss Europe, including Hampden Park ark in Glasgow.
Organi ser s told unluck y applicants they’d get a second cond chance to get to the matches through their Fans First policy if supporters failed to pay for their order by the August 18 deadline.
But fans’ groups fear the first-come, first-served system to offload unpaid tickets will only play into the hands of scalpers, who will offload them at inflated prices.
Alan Russell, chief executive of Supporters Direct Scotland, said touts would have registered dozens of email addresses in a bid to secure tickets.
He said: “Touts have very refined ways of getting their applications for their tickets in quickly and I expect more tickets will fall into their hands by doing it this way.
“The tickets already have a high face value and will be inflated even further when the resale happens when tickets are available for the later stages.”
Euro 2020, which kicks off on June 12 and lasts for a month, is being played in 12 cities across Europe for the f i rst t imeime, to mark the tournament’s 60th anniversary.
The 19.3mi l lion people who entered the ballot shattered the record of 11million for Euro 2016.
Tickets for the group stages range from £ 46 for a seat behind the goals to £171 for view from the sidelines.
But tickets to the final at Wembley cost £ 877 for a category one seat.
Fans on football forum Pie and Bovril are already talking about selling tickets for the “right price”, with one stating their tickets for the final will be “worth a fortune”.
More tickets will be released in December to national supporters clubs but it is understood Scotland will only get a fraction of the tickets the Tar tan Army will be looking for the Tartan Army will be looking for. Alan said: “There are about 25,000 members of the SFA supporters club and some say there will only be 7000 tickets made available in Scotland, some say 12,000.
“Either way that’s less than half of the regular match-going fans.
“Fans pay a lot for whatever’s available and people are making a lot of money out of it.”
Paul Goodwin of the Scottish Football Supporters Association said: “We have real concerns about the opportunities within the system that touts can exploit.
“The fact that we don’t know who is playing on those later dates means there is an opportunity for people to exploitex the system and sell tickets to supporters of those countries who reach the final stages.”
UEFA said all Euro 2020 tickets “are subject to strict terms and conditions which prevent their unauthorised resale and transfer”.
A spokesman added: “No tickets for individual fans are being distributed via agencies or brokers and we encourage fans not to be duped by touts who demand exorbitant prices despite often not being in possession of the tickets they claim to have.
“Any tickets offered for sale by third parties including on social media, marketplaces and secondary ticketing platforms are advertised in breach of the ticket terms and conditions.”
We have concerns about touts using the system