• Clubs only given 9,800 tickets for Benfica clash
• Uefa promise to review future allocations
Tickets for the Europa League final in Amsterdam are already being sold for over $ 3,700 (£2,400) on the online ticket marketplace, Viagogo, leaving Chelsea supporters further incensed as they struggle to come to terms with Uefa's paltry official allocation for the game against Benfica.
The two clubs have received just 9,800 tickets each for the match at the 53,000-seat arena on 15 May, amounting to only 37% of the gate, with the remainder granted to sponsors, official partners and the Uefa "football family".
A proportion of Chelsea's allocation will be offered to club staff, with tickets priced from £39 to £117, while Uefa have advertised gold and platinum packages for the event at €690 and €890 respectively on their website.
However Viagogo, whose United Kingdom operation is Chelsea's official ticket partner, already boasts 11 pages of available tickets being sold by third parties with prices rising as high as $ 3,712.70, plus a 15% booking fee and postage, despite having a face value of €45-135.
Those prices have caused dismay among Chelsea supporters already riled by the relatively small number of official tickets made available for the final and facing rapidly soaring transport and accommodation prices.
The Londoners had received 17,500 tickets for the Champions League final last season at the 71,000-seat Allianz Arena, while Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich will receive 25,000 each for the final at Wembley later this month.
"The allocation is clearly inadequate and I would appeal to Uefa to think about changing this in future," said Tim Rolls from the Chelsea Supporters' Trust. "Effectively it would mean less than half of the club's season ticket holders having the opportunity to attend, and for under 40% of those in the stadium to be fans of the two clubs seems ridiculous. It is shocking.
"Viagogo and the people who shamelessly sell tickets on their site, whether they are sponsors or corporate client, are making major money out of this so it's another example of football being taken away from the everyday fan. The prices being offered for some of those tickets on Viagogo at present is obscene, even if it doesn't mean they will end up being sold at that price. It will also affect the atmosphere on the night because, even if Chelsea or Benfica fans do buy up some of the 'Uefa family' tickets, they'll be dotted around the stadium."
Already, tickets are also already for sale on eBay with asking prices of £450 each and upwards. Chelsea are believed to be unhappy at the ticket allocation offered to their fans but feel that there is not much they can do about it at this late stage.
Uefa today promised to review the ticket allocation for next year, but officials warn that the problem is likely to be even worse in 2014 when the Europa League final takes place in the 41,000 capacity Juventus Stadium in Turin.
Uefa argue that if they earmarked a larger stadium for the Europa League final they may not end up filling it if two smaller clubs were involved and insist there is no practical way to ensure that all the various "stakeholders" are completely satisfied.
Following an outcry from fans ahead of the 2011 Champions League final at Wembley between Manchester United and Barcelona, Uefa were forced to cut the price of the cheapest tickets from £150 to £60 and increase the number available for its showpiece final.
But fans of Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund will still pay between £60 and £330 for a ticket to the 2013 final, again being held at Wembley.
For the Champions League 59,000 tickets went on sale to the general public, with 25,000 made available for supporters of each of the two finalists and 9,000 to neutral fans worldwide.
The remaining 27,000 tickets have been allocated to the local organising committee, national associations, commercial partners and broadcasters, and to serve the corporate hospitality programme. Reported by guardian.co.uk 18 minutes ago. ~Chelsea Headlines on One News Page [United Kingdom]~
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