May 20 – UEFA has pledged that 82% of the more than 3 million tickets for Euro 2020 will go to national teams fans and the general public. Next summer’s tournament will be staged in 12 different cities across the continent.
The fan-first approach comes amid heavy criticism aimed at the governing body over ticketing for this season’s two major club cup finals, which both feature all-English games.
One million tickets across the 44 matches of Euro2020 will be priced at €50 or less. UEFA says a total of 40,000 tickets under €100 will be available for the semi-finals and final in London, but a category one ticket for the final at Wembley will cost €945.
The first phase of Euro 2020 ticket sales will run from 12 June to 12 July, with 1.5 million on sale to the general public, which is 500,000 tickets more than at Euro 2016 in France. Tickets will be allocated by a ballot if demand exceeds supply. After the finals draw in December 2019, a second sales phase will follow with a final sales phase set for April 2020 when the final four teams will have booked their ticket for the tournament after play-offs.
The tournament will celebrate 60 years of the European championship. London’s Wembley stadium will stage the final, with Wembley also hosting group games, stepping in for Brussels, whose stadium construction never got beyond the planning stages.
Baku will host group stage matches and a quarter-final. The Azeri capital and UEFA have faced criticism ahead of this season’s Europa League final as the governing body admitted the city’s airport would not be able to deal with an influx of more than 15,000 fans, forcing UEFA to set the ticket allocation for London finalists Arsenal and Chelsea at just 6,000 each in the 68,700 stadium.
With the difficult logistics involved to get to Baku, neither club is expected to sell out its small allocation. The Champions League final in Madrid will see Liverpool and Tottenham fans sharing 33,226 tickets for the June showpiece at Atletico Madrid’s Wanda Metropolitano stadium, a venue with 68,000 seats.
Interest in Euro 2020 is still expected to be high despite the unconventional set-up of the tournament. In France 24 teams participated for the first time in the European Championship, drawing 2,427,303 million fans to the 51 games at an average of 47,594 per match with fans of debutants Albania and Iceland among others to travel in large numbers to the finals. The cheapest ticket was priced at €25 in the group stages with a category one ticket for the final costing €895. By comparison, the cheapest ticket for Euro 2020 will cost €30 in the cluster B of Budapest, Baku and Bucharest. The most expensive ticket is priced at €945 for the final showdown in London.
Contact the writer of this story, Samindra Kunti, at moc.l1714175809labto1714175809ofdlr1714175809owedi1714175809sni@o1714175809fni1714175809