March 27 – UEFA and Europe’s leading clubs want to move against inflated away tickets prices in European club competitions by introducing a price cap following a dispute between Manchester United and Barcelona ahead of their quarterfinals tie in the Champions League.
FC Barcelona charged Manchester United fans £102 for their away game at the Nou Camp, but the English club reacted to the extortionate pricing by raising their own prices for visiting Spanish fans and subsidising the cost for United’s traveling fans. Liverpool and Porto however agreed to keep prices down for traveling fans for the last eight Champions League fixture and the Portuguese club reduced the cost of an away ticket from a planned £73 to £52.
To avoid future ticket wars and allow fans to travel at a reasonable cost, UEFA and the clubs will introduce a cap on prices for away tickets. In 2018, the European Club Association (ECA) and UEFA set up a working group following a complaint by Bayern Munich and Liverpool fans over ticket prices at Anderlecht and Porto respectively.
Bayern fans went on to boycott their game against the Belgian champions in November 2017 when the Brussels-based club raised ticket prices to £85. Liverpool fans took offense with Porto charging visiting fans triple what local fans had to pay for the Champions League game.
ECA general secretary Michele Centenaro said the clubs had discussed the matter at the ECA’s general assembly in the Dutch capital Amsterdam and indicated that a proposal would be tabled at the next UEFA club competitions committee in May.
“Speaking as a former player, we want vocal fans at games and most of the time that’s the support that travels to domestic away games, too,” said ECA vice-chairman and Ajax director Edwin Van Der Sar. “We have fans who watch on TV all around the world but I think it’s important that we keep football affordable for local fans so they can travel at home and abroad.”
AC Milan chief executive Ivan Gazidis agreed with Van Der Sar and referred to the English cap of £30 cap on away tickets as a success. “The English experience with a cap on away tickets has been really positive,” said Gazidis. “It was a very good step and was well received and embraced by our fans. That was a national issue but we’ve got to have it on our (European) agenda, too.”
Contact the writer of this story, Samindra Kunti, at moc.l1713562260labto1713562260oflro1713562260wedis1713562260ni@of1713562260ni1713562260