The ticketing battle between Sevilla and Manchester United has escalated further as the LaLiga side threatened to report the Premier League club to UEFA.
The price war kicked off last month when Sevilla announced that travelling United fans would be charged between £89 and £133 (€150/$178) for seats at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium for the first leg of the clubs’ Round of 16 clash in February. Liverpool fans paid just £54 to see their team at Sevilla earlier this season.
After talks between the clubs failed, United this week announced it would raise prices for the Old Trafford leg by £35 – the difference between the price Liverpool supporters paid and the charge facing their own fans.
Sevilla has responded in a statement saying it would subsidise its own supporters’ tickets to the Old Trafford match and complain to UEFA about its fans’ allocation of 2,995, which it noted is just 4.1 per cent of the stadium’s capacity. Champions League rules dictate that home sides make five per cent of the seats available to visiting supporters.
“Sevilla will subsidise the tickets of the fans who go to Manchester by the same amount the prices rise, so they will not pay more than the €60 established (by United) in the first place,” read Sevilla’s statement.
“On top of that we will make UEFA aware that five per cent of the stadium is not being made available (to our fans) and the unilateral price rise – after the official request for tickets (from Sevilla) – as well as asking them to verify that Sevilla fans do not pay a penny more than British fans for similar tickets, as per the competition regulations.”
A Manchester United spokesman told Reuters: “We are aware of the regulations regarding equal pricing for home and away fans and we will comply.
“We welcome UEFA’s willingness to discuss these issues.”
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