Liverpool sold its entire allocation of tickets to the Champions League final, while Real Madrid returned more than 2,000.GETTY IMAGES
Fans seeking tickets for Liverpool's Champions League final against Real Madrid in Ukraine are being asked to pay "ridiculous" prices online, according to Frank Keogh of the BBC. Some are on sale for more than 20 times face value, with one ticket on a resale website priced at more than £14,000 ($18,800). Liverpool sold its entire allocation of 16,626 tickets for Saturday's match. Liverpool fan Neil Atkinson, the host of the Anfield Wrap podcast, said, "The situation is ridiculous. Third parties have seen the chance to make a profit." Capacity for the match at the Olympic Stadium in Kiev will be 63,000. Resale website Ticketbis "has a range of tickets on offer for the match" -- with the cheapest in the Real Madrid section at £410 ($551) but a lowest price of £1,337 ($1,795) for the Liverpool area (BBC, 5/21). In London, Martyn Ziegler reported there could be "hundreds of empty seats" at the Champions League final in Kiev on Saturday "despite the best efforts of Liverpool fans desperate to get into the match." More than 2,000 Real Madrid supporters returned tickets to their club, "put off by travel problems and the lack of accommodation in the Ukrainian capital." Real Madrid "reissued these to other socios" to "take them up." It is feared "several hundred will not do so." Liverpool reportedly asked UEFA if it can use any of the returned tickets "but the short timescale involved, and concerns over what it may mean for fan segregation, means that the tickets may simply remain unsold" (LONDON TIMES, 5/22).
