Danish Superliga football club FC Copenhagen has seen record season ticket and subscription sales for the 2020-21 season as it seeks to expand fan capacity.
More than 12,500 fans have purchased passes for the upcoming year as negotiations around the final number of spectators allowed into stadiums are still ongoing. Fans returned to Danish games before the end of 2019-20 despite many other European leagues remaining behind closed doors.
Due to the high number of tickets sold, the club said there will be matches that may not grant every ticket holder access at the 38,065-capacity Telia Parken. Fans who cannot attend certain matches due to potential COVID-19 restrictions will receive compensation.
FC Copenhagen director Lars Bo Jeppesen said: “It’s fantastic. I can hardly say anything else. Our fans once again show that they are behind the club and the whole project with this overwhelming interest in being a part of it. I think many had expected that we might struggle in this area right now, but again, our fans have shown that they are world class.
“It’s hard to thank them enough, but I promise that the support we are experiencing now will not be forgotten. It is also one of the reasons why we are constantly working to raise the number of spectators we can have.
“We still believe that the authorities can safely increase the number of fans in attendance, as both the club and the fans have shown that we can take on the responsibility. We will work hard on that.”
Jacob Lauesen, FC Copenhagen commercial director, noted that last year it took the club half a year to reach the 12,500 season ticket sales mark, while it only took 23 days ahead of the 2020-21 season.
He said: “It happened before we even knew our European fate, before the season is even underway, and in the midst of general uncertainty.
“We can also see that our subscriptions are rising in popularity, and that is a very positive development for us. It shows us that our fans are behind us and that we are in a really strong development despite all the challenges surrounding Covid-19.
“The challenges mean that there will be season ticket holders who are not guaranteed a place for all our matches, such as our first home game, which is a derby against Brøndby.
“However, we expect that there will only be a limited number of matches where this will be a problem and we are introducing a rotation principle so that as few matches as possible are missed.
“The high number of season tickets in a difficult time supports our ambition to reach an average of 20,000 spectators in the 3F Superliga, which is realistic when things have normalised.”
FC Copenhagen’s first home game of the season is on September 20 against Brondby. The club is also aiming to qualify for the UEFA Europa League group stage and faces Swedish club IFK Göteborg on September 17.
Danish football welcomed back socially distanced spectators at the end of the 2019-20 season despite the country having a limit on gatherings of up to 500 people due to COVID-19.
The DBU, Danish football’s federation, the Danish Sports Association and the Superliga held three test matches and found that the COVID-19 mitigation measures were feasible for the remaining seven matches of the 2019-20 season, and an exemption was made for the league to welcome an increased number of spectators. FC Copenhagen’s ticketing partner Roboticket helped to formulate a plan to host 10,500 fans at Telia Parken.
Image: Guillaume Baviere
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