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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

    In reply to James Collinson:

    The software which runs the UEFA ticketing app is capable of making life very difficult for touts. For the Nations League finals in 2019, the full capabilities of the software were not enabled and so transfers of tickets between people went unhindered. This event was used by UEFA as a test event. Perhaps they only wanted to find out how fans would interact with the app so that improvements could be made to the user instruction newsletters. There were supposed to have been further test events: the Montenegro home qualifier (where the app was used) and the Denmark and Italy friendlies which were cancelled because of the coronavirus outbreak. We just don't know whether UEFA will use the full system capabilities during the Euro 2020 tournament.

    When we applied for our tickets we had to enter in the UEFA database personal information about ourselves and any guests on the same application. The database holds the links between fans and the tickets they have been allotted.

    For the Euro 2020 tournament, fans will have to download an updated variant of the Nations League app and then register to use it. This applies whether you are the original purchaser of a ticket or whether you are seeking to have a ticket transferred to you. It would be very easy for the app software to cross-check the app registration details against the fan details in the database and refuse registration for anyone whose details are not already in the fan database. This would prevent any tickets from being downloaded to anyone who didn't get allocated any tickets by UEFA in any sales phase or transferred to anyone who was not named as a guest on the original ticket application.

    So, how could touts operate ? Well, I don't want to put ideas out there but I'm sure that touts will be able to think of everything that I can and more besides. So, here are my ideas.

    Method 1 : The tout could ask the legitimate ticket owner to provide their personal details. These could be sold on with the ticket. So the end purchaser registers / logs in as the legitimate owner but using their own phone number and UEFA will send the mobile phone ticket to their phone.

    Anyone who gives their personal details to a stranger is an idiot. Not only would they lay themselves open to identity fraud, but they could also expect the tout or the end purchaser to attempt to receive all tickets to later rounds in the tournament that the legitimate owner didn't want to sell.

    Method 2 : The legitimate owner could go to the stadium on match day and get their ticket enabled by the stewards. This places a QR code on to the phone ticket. He then sells a screen shot to a tout who sells it on to the end user.

    My mind boggles that anyone would go to the trouble of getting to the stadium ( time off work ? fares ?) to enable the ticket and then not use it himself. Certainly, any genuine fan who cannot use his ticket because he can no longer travel isn't going to be able to sell to a tout this way.

    Anyone who buys a screen shot ticket from a tout is an idiot. No doubt the tout will have sold the same image multiple times and only the first person to the turnstiles will get in.

    If you buy a screen shot ticket without a QR code then you will not be able to get the ticket enabled by the stewards. The enabling process only takes place through the app and a screenshot will not connect to the app.

    Method 3 : The legitimate owner pleads with UEFA that he doesn't have a compatible smart phone and so needs a paper ticket. This method would require the prior agreement of UEFA because a standard format email confirmation from UEFA would have to be presented at the stadium ticket office.

    At the Nations League, members found it very difficult to get this permission from UEFA, who expected everyone to either have such a phone or have another person in their party with such a phone or be able to borrow one.

    Again, the legitimate ticket holder would have to turn up at the stadium on match day to collect the ticket. So, why not use it himself.

    So, will UEFA use the full capabilities of the app software or not ? It will be interesting to see !

  • Matthew Isle

    In reply to David Lilley:

    Under 'normal times' you'd definitely think there would be have to be a back up.

    I.e. Phones get lost and screens get damaged.

    I remember leaving a Wembley ticket in a hotel room and the ticket office were good enough to print a duplicate one out.

    But we're not in normal times and the fact we may have to cross check the ticket app with Covid test results and ID (a mate of mine got randomly ID checked at the Cup Final this weekend) makes it even more tricky.

  • David Lilley

    In reply to David Lilley:

    For the avoidance of doubt, I would like to see touts driven out of business and I don't much like secondary ticketing sites either. For every fan who is delighted to get a ticket from such a source there is another fan who missed out in the original sale.

    Where a ticket is bought by a genuine fan who subsequently can't go to the match, UEFA should organise a resale platform which is permanently kept open.
  • Simon Ostcliffe

    In reply to Peter salnicki:

    The UEFA rep said that paper tickets would be sent out Peter, up to the point where there wasn't enough time to get them to people, before the relevant match was being played. This ticket would then be a phone app.
    So there could still be some tout / spare paper tickets out there on match days.
    Ironically, this virtually being a home tournament, & due to Covid restrictions, it will probably be the first ever where a fans name is actually cross checked against the name on their ticket.
    Havin never experienced this once abroad.
  • Peter salnicki

    In reply to Simon Ostcliffe:

    Thanks for the info guys. Pretty sorry state that some of us are having to even think about going down this path. As David says , why cant Uefa set up a simple ticket swap portal.

    Simon - funny that, as I had an email from a Wembley hospitality guy saying that all tickets are now e-tickets. You said you spoke to someone in Switzerland, yet this was a guy at Wembley stadium. Are there 2 different teams selling these hospitality tickets ? He also said all Scotland ones were sold out and the cheapest Croatia ones were £1500 plus VAT !
  • Anthony Mason

    In reply to Stephen Holmes:

    Water under the bridge and all that but I got lucky for that Liechtenstein game. Unfortunately, my wife didn't and spent the afternoon shopping in Zurich. I got back to the hotel after the game to find my confused wife wondering how she got the exchange rate wrong by halving it instead of doubling it. And why would anyone go shopping in Zurich anyway?
  • Oliver Pearman

    In reply to Matthew Isle:

    The biggest problem I have with e-tickets is the stupid rules UEFA adopt regarding battery packs. The Nations League semi final was a disgrace, and I know people had issues at Euro 2016 as well.

    If they are going to make all tickets e-tickets, they HAVE to accept people are going to need to take battery packs into stadiums, and shouldn’t expect people to have to queue to store them away
  • Oliver Pearman

    In reply to David Lilley:

    Completely agree. I’ve benefitted from touts myself in the past (picked up a ticket outside the stadium for Argentina v Colombia in Buenos Aires in 2013) and to be honest at least you get what you expect with touts. But I think resale sites are abhorrent, not least because they offer no protection to the ticket purchaser.

    I work in ticketing and we’ve had so many issues, including people selling the same tickets to different people, or not giving the new information to the people that bought their tickets if a show gets rescheduled. So frustrating. Not least because you hear the tickets sold for four/five times face value. I wish the government would just make it illegal to resell tickets above face value
  • Peter salnicki

    In reply to Oliver Pearman:

    I think they have to some degree. But they havent made it illegal for the likes of Viagogo to resell tickets for a concert theyve already sold the tickets for originally. So they get 2 lots of ticket fees, the touts makes loads of money, and Joe Public end up paying 4 times the ticket price.
  • Simon Ostcliffe

    In reply to Peter salnicki:

    The woman I spoke to Peter, on a couple of occasions, was definitely working for UEFA, based in Switzerland. The incoming call was a +41 number & said it Switzerland on my phone display.
    I can only comment on her involvement. I applied originally through the UEFA website & filled their online enquiry form in. Maybe there are more than one party selling hospitality? It's a very big trough when it comes to England matches...................
  • David Deighton

    In reply to David Lilley:

    Absolutely David, spot on.

    Hi Alax
    In 2006 I missed out by 2 caps, back then their was no 20% and 10% and it was only 1 cap for a home game 2 caps for an away.
    I totally get your frustration and disappointment, and its sometimes very confusing how things are worked out.
    Stick with it, if you like the going to away games bit you'll need to stick with it.
  • Aaron Smith
    I applied with my friend too, he had 36 caps I had 30, went into the ballot, after getting almost £1000 refund and he gets all group games and I got Scotland, 2nd ballot and I got nothing in there either, I angry and annoyed that I’ve been cut with 30 caps
  • David Mackley
    Hi I had the same experience. We have 10 caps each, my son, my friend and me were in all group games. We had 1 ticked for Scotland and that's it. How can they split up me and my son? Its a complete joke. Shambles.
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