Chelsea return more than 800 unsold Champions League final tickets

According to BBC Sport, Chelsea have returned more than 800 unsold tickets for the Champions League final. It has been said that those tickets were the higher priced ones that included flight costs.

Chelsea are all set to take on Manchester City in the Champions League final as the season gets to its close. Both sides have faced a lot of challenges to get to this stage and they will be hoping to get their hands on that elusive piece of silverware.

Fußball, CL, FC Porto – Juventus Turin, vor Spielbeginn FC Porto v Juventus FC Champions League 17/02/2021. General view of Dragao stadium prior to the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 match between FC Porto and Juventus FC at Estadio do Dragao, Porto, Portugal on 17 February 2021.

The final has not been without its share of problems as it was initially scheduled to be played in Istanbul, Turkey. Travel restrictions due to the pandemic meant that Wembley was a possible option until it was ruled out by the UK Government. Finally, UEFA managed to choose Porto as the venue.

Fans were to be allowed in the final as a strong crowd of 16,500 is expected. Each side were given 6,000 tickets for the fans. However, Chelsea have returned around 800 tickets from the 5,800 they were allotted. While the demand was high for 2,800 tickets that had independent travel, the ones which had flights included failed to sell out.

Aleksander Ceferin File Photo File photo dated 03-12-2018 of UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin during the UEFA Nations League Finals draw at the Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin. Issue date: Wednesday January 27, 2021.

Chelsea Supporters Trust member Dan Silver spoke out on the same and criticized the pricing and arrangements for the final.

“Uefa’s lack of care for fans has again come to the fore. They came to be our friends over the European Super League but now they have turned their backs on us again. Uefa’s insistence on having charter flights – initially linked to 90% of tickets, which the clubs pushed back on – spending only 24 hours in Portugal with added Covid testing and additional costs have made it very prohibitive. Selling tickets for up to 400 euros for a limited access final with unnecessary travel is outrageous when there were obvious solutions closer to home.”

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UEFA has come under scrutiny for their pricing of the tickets. However, it is understood that they are facing financial challenges due to the pandemic and had to do the same. That is the reason they have allowed limited crowds for the Europa and Champions League finals.