‘Will sell my soul for a ticket’

The Champions League final always triggers a gargantuan demand for tickets. UEFA came in for scathing criticism over what some described as “outrageous’ ticket prices for this year’s Wembley showdown.

About 11,000 tickets reserved for neutral supporters cost £150 (€173), £225 (€260) and £300 (€345), with each pair of tickets subject to an administration fee of £26 (€30).

Yet, the negative publicity surrounding the prices did nothing to deter fans from snapping up tickets, especially after Barcelona and Manchester United, arguably the two most famous clubs in the world, punched their ticket for the final.

A ticket for Wembley became a prized possession as hundreds of thousands of supporters scoured the internet and sounded out friends to try and secure a seat at ‘the home of football’.

Hundreds, possibly thousands, of Maltese enthusiasts also joined the scramble. Given that Malta is one of the tiniest nations in UEFA’s fold, the presence of so many Maltese for CL finals is somewhat surprising.

In the weeks leading up to the final, I stepped up my efforts to gauge the demand for CL final tickets in Malta and identify the main sources.

As a UEFA member, the Malta FA is allocated a limited number of tickets, the bulk of which go to association and club officials.

Sources have told yours truly that the MFA received 30 tickets from UEFA this year.

Tickets were also acquired from Champions League sponsors while others relied on influential contacts at UEFA, Manchester United and English football in general to get a Wembley seat.

I also gained information that at least four Maltese fans won CL final tickets after applying to take part, some months ago, in the UEFA lottery.

Rumours were rife that tickets were being offered for way above their face value on the internet.

Several Maltese fans travelled to London in the hope of purchasing a ticket at a reasonable price on matchday.

For all the efforts to prevent the reselling of tickets on the black market, ticket touts still manage to get around the system.

I’ve been observing the behaviour of ticket touts since the 2008 final in Moscow where tickets were not hard to find.

The 2009 final in Rome, which was also contested by Manchester United and Barcelona, was a different story. Tickets were in short supply but, despite UEFA issuing personalised cards for ticket holders, many were available on the black market for astronomical prices.

Last year’s final in Madrid, when Inter beat Bayern Munich 2-0, was also a sell-out but on the morning of the final, ticket touts swirled around the Bernabeu. The prices ranged from €1,500 to €1,700.

Saturday morning at Trafalgar Square, a United fan carried a cardboard sign saying “We need tickets please”.

The same person was still holding the sign a few hours before the match as I spotted him walking near Wembley.

As I strolled along Olympic Way hours before Saturday’s final, my impression was that ticket touts were not as numerous as usual.

The demand was palpable as ticketless Barcelona fans went round shouting “Compro entrada” (buy tickets).

One English supporter held up a sign saying ‘Will sell my soul for a ticket’ and another fan’s message, written across the back of his t-shirt, said: ‘Spare ticket??? World’s greatest dad!! Gave my son my ticket’.

Ticketless fans will have hoped that their exhortations would grab the attention of those who may have been in possession of a spare ticket given to them by a friend or relative who was unable to attend but touts are only interested in making a huge profit.

As I walked further down Olympic Way, towards the Wem-bley Park tube station, my sights were drawn to a group of people seemingly engaged in negotiations. A young guy wearing a tracksuit top had tickets for sale and used his mobile phone to indicate the price to his potential clients.

Posing as a ticketless fan, I moved closer to the group and after some eavesdropping, I enquired about the price.

“He wants £2,000 for each ticket,” one guy said.

“It’s murderous,” a Manchester United fan exclaimed.

Earlier, I had heard another guy asking £1,200 for a ticket that couldn’t have cost more than £326!

The day after the final I got further confirmation of the excessively high prices of black market tickets. It came during a chance meeting with an old acquaintance and his two friends in Oxford Street.

I asked if they had come to London to see the final and one of them promptly replied: “We didn’t have a ticket but we took a chance. We hoped to find one near Wembley but the prices were too expensive.

“They wanted £2,000 for a ticket and the prices just soared as kick-off approached.”

These genuine fans didn’t even have the consolation of watching the match on a big screen in a pub.

“We walked and walked but all the pubs were packed,” they said.

“We ended up watching the closing stages in a souvenirs shop!”

On the return flight to Malta on Sunday night, an official of a local club recounted his uncomfortably close encounter with a ticketless fan.

“As I was going through the turnstile, a man squeezed in behind me and managed to get in but he was immediately apprehended by the security officers and ejected from the stadium,” he said.