BE WARNED: UEFA’S BACK AT WEMBLEY
LET’S reflect on a few UEFA showpiece finals in recent years.
There was the Champions League edition of 2022 in Paris, for which Europe’s governing football body had to apologise after it was marred by “frightening and distressing events”.
UEFA has since paid compensation to Liverpool supporters who were traumatised by the occasion.
An official review concluded that UEFA bore “primary responsibility” for that nightmare.
Last year’s Champions League Final in Istanbul was a little better, but Manchester City fans still came home with tales of shambolic transport arrangements to and from the stadium.
And then there was the Euro 2020 Final at Wembley in 2021. Who can forget that? The smell of dope, the thousands of boozed-up gatecrashers, the anarchy.
UEFA is back to Wembley at the end of this season – and ticket allocations and prices for the Champions League Final have been announced.
Each competing club will get 25,000, which means that barely 58 percent of Wembley’s 86,600 capacity is being allocated to fans of the competing teams.
How can that be right?
Some tickets are priced at an outlandish £610, but UEFA says a lot of others will be available at a reasonable £60.
They say that is all part of a ‘fans first’ policy. When it comes to recent major UEFA finals, putting fans first would certainly be a first.