By Andrew Warshaw at the Guildhall in London
April 20 – UEFA President Michel Platini has apologised for over-pricing tickets for next month’s Champions League final, the showpiece event of the European club calendar.
Seat prices for the Wembley final have been the subject of fierce debate ever since UEFA announced that the cheapest on public sale would be £150 ($248) plus a £26 ($43) booking fee.
Platini, who deliberately switched the Champions League final to a Saturday last year to make it more family-friendly, has already gone on record as saying the pricing “isn’t brilliant”.
At a ceremony in London to officially hand over the trophy to London Mayor Boris Johnson ahead of the May 28 final, Platini went even further.
“It is a mistake, it was not good and I apologise,” he said.
“But it is not easy to decide the price.
“We have had 200,000 requests for tickets and the black market price is 10 times that amount.”
One Spanish team will play in the final, with Real Madrid and Barcelona facing off in the semis.
Manchester United will contest the final on home soil if they beat Germany’s Schalke.
Each of the finalists receive 25,000 tickets, with UEFA expecting income from the game to reach €16.7 million (£14.7 million/$24.3 million) compared with €11.5 million (£10.1 million/$16.7 millIion) last time.
Platini said that UEFA would have to think again about their price structure though there was nothing that could be done this year.
“Perhaps in the future we should have another category for families,” he admitted.
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