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Ticket rationing at Wembley EURO matches - the real culprits

Some of the rationalisations of the 3000 ticket allocation to ESTC members have been too accepting of that mean number - some explanations verge on the pompous and patronising. Putting aside references to the pandemic etc, the real explanation is to be found in UEFA's traditional arrogance - in the good old FIFA tradition - and the English FA's active or passive support. 

A 3000 allocation has been justified as a "fair" pro-rata reduction in the usual 12000 allocation. An allocation of 12000 as a share of the 85000-90000 capacity is outrageously unfair. Remember there has been no general sale to the public of tickets for the EURO matches at Wembley - we all had to be paid-up ESTC members. Where the heck were the other 75000-plus tickets allocated originally?

The balance of reduced capacity tickets i.e. about 15000 or so, after the 3000 allocated to England Fans, and 3000 to the opponent team Fans, are clearly going to UEFA, it's mates, cronies, assorted hangers-on, and the lucrative hospitality ticket holders. Most likely as a result of a cowardly deal struck by the English FA with UEFA, to get the matches "awarded" to Wembley.

This unfair allocation has to stop for future tournaments. I do not begrudge those who heard on Thursday that they have tickets - good luck to them. The ballot process was fair, given constraints resulting from the pandemic. The real issue remains the unfair original share allocated to Supporter Club members - England, and Opponents too!.

This unfairness is reflected in ticket allocation for the Men's Champions League final in Portugal. Out of 20000 available tickets, just 12000 are allocated to the two English Finalists, to be split 50;50. Leaving 80000 other tickets. A British Government Minister said this week that UEFA wanted 2000 tickets for "UEFA Delegates" - a polite term for the mates, cronies, hangers-on who fancy a jolly in sunny Portugal.

From a very disgruntled and loyal England Fan.

49 Replies

  • Roger Loughney

    In reply to Paul Dawson:

    Well as long as you are amused that is alright then.
  • Paul Dawson

    In reply to Roger Loughney:

    I am actually, not going to lie about it, the bloke on the England Facebook site ‘Noel ? ‘ pure comedy gold, posts cheer me right up when I’m feeling distraught at not getting a ticket for every game
  • Peter John-Baptiste

    In reply to Roger Loughney:

    The 70/20/10 rule is well documented by the FA
  • Peter John-Baptiste

    In reply to Stephen Holmes:

    Must admit I've never seen that for tournaments. They may say that for general England home games though.
  • Peter John-Baptiste

    In reply to Roger Loughney:

    I fully understand that the vast majority of England fans in the country are unable to put in the time and money to go to a lot of games and build up enough 'caps' to go to tournaments. I myself don't go to as many games as I used to.

    I do realise though that because of this there are people who are far more 'deserving' of tickets. This is just the way it is.
    Not just at international level but club level as well.
    Those with the most loyalty points amongst Chelsea and Leicester fans would have got FA Cup Final tickets today for instance I presume.

    Thats just the way it is. This last year has been a sod for many reasons.

    Personally I think the ticket situation has been sorted as best as it could have been for this tournament.
  • Carl Padley
    you would have been refunded for the tickets you applied for so you wouldnt have lost any money did you book hotels or do you live next to wembley if so next time use free cancellation stop moaning save you money and go to more games ready for germany in 2024
  • Michael Smith
    Mate, not being funny but you’ve never been to an away game & you’re whinging you never got tickets & calling yourself a loyal fan.
    Okay maybe you are a loyal fan but I know quite a few mates who follow England abroad & also didn’t get tickets.
    Whilst they’re not happy they accept the system that was put in place.
    Lastly some people on here are a mine of useful information & you appear to be going out of your way to have a go at them, maybe because you didn’t get tickets?
  • Michael Smith

    In reply to Michael Smith:

    Sorry, that was aimed at Roger
  • Peter Sherwood

    In reply to Michael Smith:

    I'm sure we're loyal fans whether we've been away games or not. The issue here is that the 25K allocation has been swallowed up by the black hole that is hangers on and corporates. UEFA could have done the decent thing and really reduced their allocation and passed over most of the tickets to the loyal fans.
    They didn't choose to do that, and that's extremely disappointing, especially as most of us haven't seen live football for 14 months already.
    UEFA, a more fluffy version of the ESL.

  • Richard Macey

    In reply to Peter Sherwood:

    Peter Sherwood

    I'm sure we're loyal fans whether we've been away games or not.

    You think some-one who doesn't go to away games is a loyal fan?

  • Roger Loughney

    In reply to Richard Macey:

    Loyalty is not just measured by the number of matches a person has attended. An England fan may be devoted, loyal, a supporter through thick and thin, but cannot attend that many matches due to personal circumstances, obligations to family or job or whatever. Nevertheless, I totally acknowledge that if you have more caps, often gained the hard way, through difficult trips to decrepit stadiums in Eastern Europe in winter, etc, you should reap the rewards. I envy you, but no way do I begrudge you.
    I think fans should question much harder the practices of the unholy clique of the English FA, other FAs, UEFA, and FIFA. Their high-handed arrogance in retaining disproportionate numbers of tickets for the big games and tournaments, to be privately distributed, is outrageous and offensive. Those organisations are far from "transparent". The wider football community never gets to know how those numbers are decided, how the tickets are allocated, who gets them, and how much they pay, if anything, for them. Incidentally, allocation to England squad members, for family and friends, is only a fraction of those tickets, and is deserved. We can be sure that those people will have not had to jump through the hoops we have had to for the last 18 months to buy and keep our tickets. To illustrate - how can UEFA justify the fact they insisted on 2000 tickets for "UEFA delegates", if the Champions League final was to be switched to Wembley, as revealed publicly by a British Government Minister. I guess Portugal thought that was ok. The cost of those freebies is essentially picked up by ticket buyers - every man and woman on this Forum. I despair when I think how these abuses will undoubtedly be even greater at the 2026 World Cup in North America.
  • James Collinson

    In reply to Roger Loughney:

    Questioning of corporate tickets has been something I’ve seen appear on this site for the past 17+ years and is not something that has just come to light. Someone said elsewhere on here that UEFA are no worse than the ESL clubs and they are not wide of the mark. FIFA may bear the brunt of corruption issues recently but I don’t think anyone believes UEFA are whiter than white. Hell they hung onto our money much longer than was necessary and I don’t think any of us thought this was going to end any other way than it has.
    I would definitely like to see a breakdown of ticket apportioning for these upcoming Euros just to see if they were reduced as per the rest of us. Though if they were their tickets do not appear to have come from our allocation (or if they did it’s a small amount) so must have been taken from the original general sale bulk. I know 24% of Wembley was reserved for the two competing fans groups and at least 50% went to general sale over the numerous windows but would be interested to see what happened to the remaining percentages.
    I did notice today that there are still hospitality packages available for all Wembley games if you’ve got a spare few grand.
    Through all this though I don’t see what more The FA could have done aside from stand their ground on corporate numbers and risk not having the games staged here at all (which ironically would sort out a lot of the complaints on here as there would be a lot less eager to schlep to Azerbaijan or Wherever). From years in here I’ve seen a definite improvement in the running of this group on the whole and will always be thankful for The FA for stepping in when Belarus effectively denied me a visa because I worked for the “liberal media” and writing directly to them to vouch I was going purely for football purposes and managing to secure me the documents I needed to travel. Okay I got followed round by some not so secret police for a day or two but still they bothered to help me. I also know based on previous experience that they will do all they can to secure us more tickets as/ if they become available.
  • Oliver Pearman

    In reply to Peter John-Baptiste:

    Thing is, they aren’t saying anything that is incorrect. The official allocation is handled by the FA. You can go through UEFA / FIFA but won’t be seated necessarily in the England end. That’s the difference.

    I got a ticket through FIFA for the Algeria game in Cape Town, and I was in the opposite end of the stadium to the official England allocation, and sat right next to the official Algerian contingent.
  • Oliver Pearman

    In reply to Peter Sherwood:

    But they did do that. They reduced all allocations by the same amount - in as much as all allocations were kept to the same % as originally, but with a reduced capacity.

    Also, and I’ve said this several times now on several different posts: the 50% that went to general sale - in EVERY stadium- are NOT corporate seats, they were available for anyone to apply for. My father bought one like this for the Czech game as he isn’t a member of the ESTC. He certainly isn’t a corporate fan. I myself bought one for Wales v Turkey in Baku (before the draw was made as I wanted to visit Azerbaijan) which has now been returned (not worth the hassle) - again, I’m not corporate.

    YES there are corporates and sponsors tickets. But these are minimal - 82% of stadiums are reserved for supporters (50% general sale / 16% for each competing nation) - and the remaining 18% is divided between media, dignitaries, and yes, corporate and sponsors. By far the biggest of these is the media allocation, though.

    So PLEASE can we end this myth that the 50% general sale is reserved for corporate tickets, as it simply is not true
  • Roger Loughney

    In reply to James Collinson:

    Thank you for that perspective. My head is full with the numbers and percentages I have seen in all the posts this weekend.
    I wonder if I just go to a turnstile at Wembley on match day, throw myself on the ground and start crying, might they let me in out of pity.
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