Football Supporters Europe (FSE) today shares its serious concern that the finalists’ allocations at the 2024 Europa League Final in Dublin will reach just 50% of the stadium’s total capacity on the day. Further, FSE calls on UEFA and the local organisers to do right by the supporters and increase these allocations.
Some encouraging progress has been made in recent seasons following repeated calls to do so by FSE.
The 2023/24 UEFA Champions League Final at Wembley will see the largest finalists’ allocation for the competition in a decade (58%), while for the Europa Conference League Final in Athens, 66% of tickets will go to the finalist clubs’ supporters, which is an all-time high for any UEFA club competition final.
Despite this, a consistent approach across all finals is still needed. A paltry 50% of capacity for Europa League finalist clubs is, simply, not good enough and falls well short of FSE’s demand to provide at least 66% of tickets for all European finals to supporters of the teams involved. Fans of competing teams need to be given clear priority over public sale options. Based on previous experiences, a higher allocation of tickets for general sale will significantly fuel black market ticket activity, exploiting fans’ loyalty in the process.
FSE Executive Director Ronan Evain said: “While UEFA has made steady progress over the last few seasons in recognising the importance of offering a high number of tickets to the finalists’ most dedicated supporters, it is extremely disappointing that the UEFA Europe League Final in Dublin will represent such a step backward. We urge UEFA and the local organisers to reconsider their ticketing policy and offer a significantly higher allocation to the two finalist clubs. A significant increase needs to be made in line with FSE’s position of a minimum of 66% to do right by supporters. “