Headache for Liverpool fans as club are given only 16,000 tickets and prices of flights and hotels soar
Majority of tickets will cost more than £100 Sale clause guarantees ex-shareholders a place
Liverpool and Real Madrid supporters will share just over 60 per cent of available tickets for the Champions League final in Kiev, it has been revealed.
No sooner were fans of both clubs celebrating progress than their familiar frustrations surfaced.
Kiev’s Olimpiyskiy Stadium has a 70,050 capacity, which will be reduced to 63,000 for the fixture on May 26. Liverpool and Real Madrid will receive 16,626 tickets each from Uefa, well short of the demand for two of the best-supported clubs in world football.
In addition, a further 6,700 tickets will be made available to “worldwide supporters”, which will probably end up in the hands of Liverpool and Real fans.
The remaining seats are occupied by hospitality members, rights holders, commercial partners, officials, players past and present and assorted media. Of those available for fans, the cheapest are priced £48 for restricted view, or £61 for a category four ticket. There are about 2,660 of those available.
The bulk – about 8,479 – are priced between £109 and £140. Another 4,489 cost between £223 and £280, and the most expensive are bracketed between £315 and £394.
Flights to Kiev via commercial operators were already spiralling in cost before the finalists were known, while every host venue ensures a bonanza weekend for hoteliers charging higher than usual prices for rooms.
Liverpool have sought to create a fairer means of ensuring those who have attended all European ties are prioritised, but there is irritation that the allocation makes it impossible to satisfy all requests.
Liverpool are also hindered by a legal requirement so that whenever they reach a major final, the former shareholders who sold their stake to Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr in 2007 were given a lifetime guarantee of tickets.
That amounts to about 2,000 tickets being part of a “contractual supporter allocation”. Current owner Fenway Sports Group explored legal means of challenging the extraordinary agreement, but they are locked into it.
While many of those shareholders may choose to waive their rights, or in some cases have followed the club home and away to such an extent they believe their entitlement justified, an ex-shareholder can claim a Champions League ticket even if they have not attended a single Liverpool game for 11 years.