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Liverpool tickets row: Uefa accused of ignoring fans' fears over ticket chaos for Europa League final

St Jakob Park has a capacity almost 20,000 fewer than Anfield

6 MAY 2016 • 10:30PM

Uefa awarded Basel this season’s Europa League final despite repeated warnings from supporters’ groups about the risks of staging the fixture at low-capacity venues, The Daily Telegraph has learnt.

European football’s governing body has been accused of putting football politics and commercial considerations above the needs of ordinary fans after it emerged most of those who roared Liverpool into their first European final for nine years would miss out on tickets for their showdown with Sevilla in 11 days’ time.

News that Liverpool supporters had been allocated just 10,236 tickets in the 35,000-seat arena – some 2,000 of which could go to former shareholders guaranteed priority tickets when they sold their stake in the club to former owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett – also sparked fears of a repeat of the chaos that marred their 2007 Champions League final in Athens. Then, some Liverpool fans without tickets gained entry to the match. The club were allocated 18,500 tickets for the 63,000-capacity venue.

Capacity at venues for Uefa Cup / Europa Leaguefinals
2007 Hampden Park (Glasgow) 53,000
2008 City of Manchester Sta… 54,000
2009 Sukru Saracoglu Stadiu… 55,000
2010 HSH Nordbank Arena (… 51,000
2011 Aviva Stadium (Dublin) 51,000
2012 National Arena (Buchar… 53,000
2013 Amsterdam Arena (Am… 53,000
2014 Juventus Stadium (Turin) 41,000
2015 National Stadium (Wars… 56,000
2016 St Jakob Park (Basle) 35,000

A mass exodus of supporters from Merseyside is expected to descend on Basel, with manager Jürgen Klopp even urging ticketless fans to travel to Switzerland. He said: “It’s worth going even if you don’t have a ticket to enjoy the city. We can’t think about the size of the stadium. If you ask who wants to see this final you will find 30 million people so there is no chance. It’s like this.”

Liverpool in a statement said: “To ­ensure the safety and well-being of fans, the club urges supporters who do not have a ticket not to travel to the St Jakob Park Stadium on the day of the game.”

St Jakob Park will be the second- smallest ground to host a European final, with a capacity almost 20,000 fewer than Anfield will hold when the redevelopment of the main stand is completed. St Jakob Park will be the second smallest ground to host a European final

Uefa’s decision to hand another of its showpiece occasions to a ­stadium of St Jakob Park’s size was branded “ludicrous” and “foolhardy”, and the shadow sports ­minister, Clive Efford, urged it to consider moving the May 18 match to a larger ground.

That will almost certainly not happen, with even Liverpool supporters’ groups accepting it is too late to change the venue and Klopp saying that complaining about the club’s ticket allocation was futile.

However, The Daily Telegraph can reveal that Uefa had been warned about the potential problems of staging the Europa League final at such grounds even before Basel was selected as host almost two years ago.

The chief executive of the Football Supporters’ Federation, Kevin Miles, also wrote to the governing body in March urging it to consider awarding the final to stadiums with capacities of more than 50,000, but received a dismissive reply.

Miles, who has attended meetings with Uefa at which concerns have been raised about the Europa League final arrangements, told The Telegraph: “It will never be possible to satisfy demand completely but a serious under-provision of tickets can generate all sorts of problems, from disappointment and frustration from diehard fans to security issues at the ground itself.”

John Williams, a senior lecturer in the department of sociology at the University of Leicester, an expert in fan culture and spectator behaviour, and the author of Red Men: Liverpool Football Club — The Biography, described the club’s ticket allocation as “ludicrous”.

He said: “We know there were problems in 2007 in Athens. So, I am concerned. It’s a foolhardy ­decision and I worry that people will travel without tickets. It seems to offer all kinds of potential ­difficulties.”

Liverpool supporters have been allocated just 10,236 tickets. James McKenna, of the Spirit of Shankly supporters’ group, branded the choice of venue “staggering”, claiming the city of Basel was not “fit for purpose” in terms or seats, hotel rooms and transport.

Efford said: “If it was possible at all at this late stage to move the game to a bigger ground, I would do it. But I suspect it is probably far too late.”

Liverpool were promised at least 9,000 tickets by Uefa – many of which do not go to ordinary fans – which the governing body said in its reply to the FSF’s March letter had proven to be a “natural sales limit”.

That has certainly been the case in some of the recent Europa League finals, which have not sold out, but McKenna said: “There are big English teams, big European clubs that could end up in this competition.

“They give it this prestige with a Champions League qualifying berth but treat it as a second-rate competition with such a small allocation.”

Uefa defended its decision to select Basel as a venue. “The number of supporters requesting final tickets varies from club to club, and of course it is impossible to predict in advance which clubs will reach the final,” a spokesman said, adding that stadium capacity at recent finals had been “very satisfactory”.

Uefa warned ticketless fans not to approach the ground due to “very tight” security, confirming that fan zones would be erected in Basel to accommodate them.

The ticket re-selling website V­iagogo was advertsing tickets for sale last night with prices quoted as high as £5,600.

[devaney]

Heysel was an accident waiting to happen and the ground was simply not fit for purpose. Don't for one minute think that I am condoning the actions of an idiotic minority that behaved like animals. Unfortunately though it is true to say that if the organising authorities had done their jobs properly we would not have witnessed the atrocities that followed. Was nothing learned from Heysel? To hold a final, with the additional prize of champion league qualification, in a very small stadium with a capacity of 35000 is simply crazy. The venue should have been changed months ago when it was obvious that several top extremely well supported teams were taking the competition far more seriously than in previous years. Are these people idiots? They make the competition a lot more interesting and then hold the final in a tin pot stadium! If there is any trouble these clowns will have almost certainly contributed towards it