Blue in Munich
Crocked Professional Yeti Impersonator
Well the ticket allocation for the Europa League final has been announced and it's even worse than the Champions League; 6,000 each for Chelsea & Arsenal. Not surprisingly UEFA, the epitome of a two rule organisation, has defended the decision. This is the statement;
"Based on UEFA's recent experience with UEFA Europa League finals and the UEFA Super Cup in comparable venues the number of finalists' supporters requesting tickets for a UEFA Europa League final can vary greatly from club to club," a UEFA statement read.
"Of course, it is impossible to predict in advance which clubs will reach the final while the venue has to be chosen around two years in advance.
"Taking into consideration the above and most importantly the geographical location and logistical capacity of airports in and around the host city, it was deemed that around 15,000 spectators would be able to travel from abroad, with Baku as the main hub.
"Offering more tickets to fans of the participating teams, without any guarantee that they would be able to arrange suitable travel to reach Baku, was therefore not a responsible option.
"Based on these circumstances, for this year's UEFA Europa League final in Baku, 6,000 tickets have been made available to each of the finalists."
Surely the responsible option would be to choose a venue more accessible to the majority of clubs, with better transport hubs, or to have some mitigation in place for these circumstances? Sending two clubs who are about 8 miles apart, and about 10 miles at worst from Wembley, nearly 2,700 miles for the second tier trophy is utterly ridiculous and totally indefensible.
Not that it will actually matter to me; at £121 for the ticket & £979 for the flight for each of us, Mrs BiM & I will pass. But it still bloody irritates.
"Based on UEFA's recent experience with UEFA Europa League finals and the UEFA Super Cup in comparable venues the number of finalists' supporters requesting tickets for a UEFA Europa League final can vary greatly from club to club," a UEFA statement read.
"Of course, it is impossible to predict in advance which clubs will reach the final while the venue has to be chosen around two years in advance.
"Taking into consideration the above and most importantly the geographical location and logistical capacity of airports in and around the host city, it was deemed that around 15,000 spectators would be able to travel from abroad, with Baku as the main hub.
"Offering more tickets to fans of the participating teams, without any guarantee that they would be able to arrange suitable travel to reach Baku, was therefore not a responsible option.
"Based on these circumstances, for this year's UEFA Europa League final in Baku, 6,000 tickets have been made available to each of the finalists."
Surely the responsible option would be to choose a venue more accessible to the majority of clubs, with better transport hubs, or to have some mitigation in place for these circumstances? Sending two clubs who are about 8 miles apart, and about 10 miles at worst from Wembley, nearly 2,700 miles for the second tier trophy is utterly ridiculous and totally indefensible.
Not that it will actually matter to me; at £121 for the ticket & £979 for the flight for each of us, Mrs BiM & I will pass. But it still bloody irritates.
