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UEFA shambles - £800 worth of tickets refunded and NO games in ballot.

Absolutely devastated at the news today.

Applied with a friend - me (16 active CAPS, him (11 active CAPS). Allocated every single England game recently refunded £800 give or take each.

Into the ballot and every game unsuccessful except;

We applied together and I’ve been given a Croatia ticket category 2 and he hasn’t. I’m clearly not in the top 70% of cappers, but they’ve allocated me a Croatia ticket and not the other two. He has been UNSUCCESSFUL in ALL group games. How have they decided I’m eligible for a Croatia ticket, but not Scotland or Czech.

Applied together, been screwed together. We are both bitterly disappointed. I’d rather have both of us been unsuccessful than me obtaining ONE out of the possible SIX tickets between us both.

None of it makes any sense and tbh I don’t really want to go to a game on my own. It just defeats the object of going with friends / family and having that special atmosphere.

Can anyone please explain to me ( top top cappers, with a lot of experience of following England for donkeys years) how I have somehow been accepted to one game and not the others?? This ballot seems to be drawn as random as it gets and it’s wholly upsetting after all the summer we have looked forward to for the best part of two years now.

Deflated.

58 Replies

  • David Lilley
    Hi, Alex. Each of the 3 matches was subject to a separate allocation / ballot process and every fan went into the ballots individually on the basis of their own caps record.. You got lucky in the Croatia ballot but unlucky in the other two ballots. That's just the way the cookie crumbled. Your friend got unlucky in all three ballots.

    I see that you went to the away matches in the Czech Republic and Bulgaria. That means that you qualified for the 20% ballot for each of the 3 matches. If your friend did not go to two away matches in the last campaign then he would not have qualified for the 20% ballot but would have fallen into the 10% ballot. He would therefore have had much less chance of a ticket than you.

    It's very difficult to calculate an accurate figure for your chances of a ticket. But, for someone who qualified for the 20% ballot, the chances of getting at least 1 ticket out of the 3 might be in the region of 25%. You got lucky. However, for someone who only qualifies for the 10% ballot, the chances of at least 1 ticket might be in the region of 9%.

    If you don't want to go to the match by yourself then you are not obliged to buy the ticket allocated to you. If you don't, it will be re-balloted to another fan.
  • Alex Field

    In reply to David Lilley:

    David, as ever thanks for you in depth response. May you clear a few things up for me, as you appear to have the knowledge in these forums!

    1. Why have the ballots been done on an individual basis? It beggars belief that I’ve now got to go to a football match on my own (travel down from birmingham on my own for it) and miss out on the whole point of tournament football which for me is enjoying it with your mates. Who wants to go to a match on their own? Personally not me, but will I still buy a ticket and do it ... undecided. It just hurts, after all the hope of a great footballing summer live once again.

    2. If a few more tickets get released and my friend gets lucky, we will also miss out on sitting together if I go ahead and buy separately. If I don’t buy, will I get a second chance in the next ballot or is this not doable? Are more tickets likely to be released in your opinion.

    3. Better chance with 16 and 11 caps for 50% semi and final?

    Thanks,

    Alex
  • Matthew Isle

    In reply to Alex Field:

    My thoughts - you might not agree with them. But dust yourself down and get the tickets purchased.

    IMO you'd be daft not to. There'll be plenty in your position. This tournament was never going to have the same feel as others. Just make the most of what we have. Enjoy some ale and start nattering to others in the same position. Loads of us on here made lifelong mates by being at a loose end at matches and talking football nonsense to randoms.

    Alex Field


    1. Why have the ballots been done on an individual basis? It beggars belief that I’ve now got to go to a football match on my own (travel down from birmingham on my own for it) and miss out on the whole point of tournament football which for me is enjoying it with your mates. Who wants to go to a match on their own? Personally not me, but will I still buy a ticket and do it ... undecided. It just hurts, after all the hope of a great footballing summer live once again.

    Whilst I agree that going to the games with mates is a big part of the experience, how else were the ESTC team expected to reballot?

    The situation is that we now have 25% of the previous allocation.

    Plenty of higher cappers have missed out. Certainly ones with lots more caps than yourself. That includes people in my former application group.

    They'd snap your hand off to go.

    Its brutal but if you'd gone to more games you'd have tickets.  That been the case if you're not bothered then don't purchase - plenty of people will want them.

    Alex Field


    2. If a few more tickets get released and my friend gets lucky, we will also miss out on sitting together if I go ahead and buy separately. If I don’t buy, will I get a second chance in the next ballot or is this not doable? Are more tickets likely to be released in your opinion.

    There will certainly be returns, people not taking up their allocation and the ESTC have historically a great record of securing futher tickets

    If it's all relying on future applications being able to be linked so you can 'sit together' then you may be disappointed.

    I'd think it'll be tough to link any future successful sales together.

    Wether you'll be able to physically sit in an non allocated seat is another matter.

    Alex Field



    3. Better chance with 16 and 11 caps for 50% semi and final?

    Definitely.

  • David Lilley

    In reply to Alex Field:

    Tickets from the official FA allocation for a tournament are distributed according to the 70%/20%/10% rule. Details of the rule can be found in section 6.3 of the Travel Club rules. In the link below, this section refers to Qatar 2022 but the rules were exactly the same for Euro 2020.

    www.thefa.com/.../estc-rules

    Members applying for tickets are put into the 70%, the 20% or the 10% on the basis of their individual caps record regardless of whether they applied separately or on the same application. This has always been the case. No one is allowed to improve their chances of a ticket by piggy-backing on the caps record of someone else on the same application. If and only if you both qualify for the same ballot, you would enter the ballot together and either both be successful or both be unsuccessful. The principal advantage of applying together is that IF you are both successful then you will be allocated tickets in the same category and you will sit together.

    For the purposes of this week's balloting of the reduced ticket allocation, Team England decided that promising successful applicants that they would get the same ticket category would produce more anomalies than it would solve, so they didn't do it. But putting applicants into the ballots individually is not something new.

    If you buy the ticket offered to you, the process will give you a 'Group ID' number. If your friend is successful in a later distribution of tickets and only if he is allocated the same category as you, he can sit with you. You must give him your Group ID to enter in the appropriate input field when he buys his ticket in order to link your purchases.

    If you decline the ticket offered to you, I do not know whether your name would be put back in the hat, allowing you to be drawn again in a later ballot.

    Regarding the maths in my last post, I have been giving it more thought. We fans do not know how many people qualified for the 20% ballot. So, the 25% figure is a lower bound for the actual probability. But I think the 9% figure is pretty close to the mark. If the crowd size for the final were 50% of stadium capacity, as expected, then I estimate the corresponding figures for this single match to be around 23% and 9%, with slightly lower figures for the semi-final.

  • Stephen Holmes

    In reply to Alex Field:

    Alex......one of the great things about following England is that you never need to feel alone. Walk in to any pub near the ground....start chatting football,anx people will talk to you.
    Some may become friends for life....just do it mate.
  • James Collinson

    In reply to Stephen Holmes:

    This is a very good point Stephen. Started travelling to England games on my own just under 20 years ago (Christ that’s terrifying to think about!!) but from that I’ve met a solid group of people that I now travel to almost every game with along with a few mates I’ve talked into signing up along the way. Atmosphere is usually decent and most are up for a drink and a chat.
  • Roger Clunn
    I'm disappointed I didn't get the three games I applied for but did get a category 3 for Scotland, so am pleased with that. Not bothered about going on my own, will meet up with my mates before/after just grateful I'm going. Hoping I will be lucky if some tickets are not taken up or appear on the UEFA site.
  • Peter Sturman
    Alex, they are just trying to justify a totally bizarre scheme in very strange times, I had tickets to every game originally, booked with two friends, we all got a refund and went into the ballot. Now I've only got 11 caps so didn't hold out much hope but the other guys both had 8 caps and, you've guessed it, they got all 3 group games and I got nothing.
    Like I said I didn't expect much to be fair but the system is not obviously not fair or transparent, unfortunately for me I've already signed up for another 2 years so have no doubt I'll apply for every game I can as I have since Germany in 1988!
    Having said all that you would be daft to pass up the chance of going to that one game so get it brought and count yourself lucky
  • Oliver Bickle
    I've been following England on my Todd for about 8 years now. Genuinely never feel alone, other fans are always open to starting conversations with me when they see me hanging about at a bar or tourist attraction on my own. For me, i'd rather go to games on my own than wait for my mates to A) be able to afford it. B) Get authorisation from their WAGs and C) want to go and do something completely different to me whilst we are there
  • Adrian Gunner

    In reply to Stephen Holmes:

    Stephen is right on this. You’ll never feel alone and there will be some people that will talk to you and will end up being your new friends for life. Enjoy it fella.
  • Roger Loughney

    In reply to David Lilley:

    I see from the follow up post, to this post of yours, that Alex Field has some degree of familiarity with you from before. If you are acting as an employee or representative of the English FA, or Wembley Stadium Limited, or an affiliated organisation, perhaps you should make your role clear to those of us who are not familiar with your activities. You might also consider whether you placing in the public domain details of people's match attendances etc means you are probably in breach of UK Data Protection legislation.
  • Matthew Isle

    In reply to Roger Loughney:

    Roger Loughney
    I see from the follow up post, to this post of yours, that Alex Field has some degree of familiarity with you from before. If you are acting as an employee or representative of the English FA, or Wembley Stadium Limited, or an affiliated organisation, perhaps you should make your role clear to those of us who are not familiar with your activities. You might also consider whether you placing in the public domain details of people's match attendances etc means you are probably in breach of UK Data Protection legislation.

    This is brilliant - I've literally just spat a mouthful of beer out.

    A so called 'loyal fan' who is so sore about not getting tickets he's making accusations across multiple threads against one of the most helpful members of this forum.

    I'd look a bit more internally for the reason you didn't get tickets fella rather than taking it out on David if I were you 

    Looking at your attendance record (click on your name) it's lack of loyalty over the years and therefore lack of caps.

    Take my advice - apologise to David and then log off for a bit. You realise that you're posting on a fully open part of the forum so anyone in the world can see your rants if they search for your name and England?

  • David Lilley

    In reply to Matthew Isle:

    Thanks for your defence, Matt, but I'm OK with Roger asking his questions.

    His reference to working for the FA and Data Protection is probably because I knew that Alex Field had been to 2 away matches and so qualified for the 20% ballot. As you say above, you can see anyone's match attendance record by clicking on their name. I do hope that this is not "personal data" covered by the legislation.

    To Roger, I genuinely hope that this thread and the one you started are giving you some insights into how ticketing for tournaments works, especially the difference between the general public sale and the official fan club sale. My intention is to help other fans, including yourself, so that if you are interested in going to future tournaments you will be better able to make decisions which are appropriate to your circumstances.
  • Roger Loughney

    In reply to Matthew Isle:

    My job, financial and family circumstances have meant that over the years I have not been able to attend as many matches as others, so cannot "prove" my loyalty in the same way as you have fortunately been able to do. I also appreciate that you believe your greater loyalty allows you to give less loyal fans, such as myself, well meaning advice. Having considered that advice, which is possibly well meant, yet patronising and lacking in value or merit, I have therefore concluded the best thing to do is disregard it.
  • Matthew Isle

    In reply to Roger Loughney:

    Being a loyal member Roger you'll be aware that campaign after campaign we have members who are disappointed about tickets and tend to initially blame everyone else but themselves.

    They almost always think others don't have equally pressing personal circumstances which have impacted on their own choices throughout campaigns.

    Others live thousands of miles away, have lost jobs, relationships, family members and I don't doubt lots more but choose to make these sacrifices to carry on attending matches.

    David has tried to give you solid and well meaning advice and continues to be his normal generous self.

    I'll leave you to it, FA Cup and all that, but just a heads up that earlier you cited 'data protection'. So you'll be aware all your comments are fully attributable, on this fully open part of the forum, to your profile photograph you've manually uploaded.

    Anyway I wish you well.
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