It emerged over the weekend that Real Madrid fans had returned over 2000 tickets for this weekend’s Champions League Final in Kiev because of huge logistical issues getting to the Ukranian capital and the lack of accommodation.
Real Madrid were originally allocated 12 800 tickets for the much anticipated season final against Liverpool but lack of hotel rooms and the soaring price of rented accommodation and flights are the main reasons for some fans being unable to travel.
A total of 24,268 Madrid season-ticket holders entered the ballot to secure one of the 12,802 tickets made available for the club for the final, which kicks off at 7.45pm on Saturday 26 May.
Real have reissued the returned tickets to other socios, or club members, who took part in the original ballot with a deadline of 11am today to take them up. It is feared that several hundred will not do so.
In the meantime the Times newspaper in UK report that Liverpool are understood to have asked Uefa if they can use any of the returned tickets. However the short timescale involved, and concerns over what it may mean for fan segregation, means that UEFA are unlikely to grant the Reds request which would see Los Blancos fans outnumbered in the Olympic Stadium.
Capacity at the Olympic Stadium in Kiev for Saturday’s game will be 63 000 and Liverpool have already sold out their 16600 ticket allocation . Tickets for resale are at ridiculous prices with some on sale for more than 20 times face value, with one ticket on a resale website priced at more than £14,000 !!
Ticketbis, a subsidiary of Stubhub based in Spain, has a range of tickets on offer for the match – with the cheapest in the Real Madrid section at £410 but a lowest price of £1,337 for the Liverpool area.
Clearly this is one of the most eagerly anticipated Champions League Finals for many years – lets hope the occasion matches the anticipation.
