By Andrew Warshaw, chief correspondent
February 12 – Two years after its president Michel Platini admitted that inflated Champions League final tickets were a mistake, UEFA have cut the cost of the cheapest seats for this season’s showpiece finale.
The European governing body is selling 16,800 tickets for the Wembley final at £60 each, way below the Category Four ticket price of £150 plus a £26 administration charge when the final was last staged at Wembley in 2011.
“It is correct we should give the opportunity to everyone to go to the match irrespective of their financial conditions,” said a UEFA spokesman.
The first batch of tickets went on sale last week and of the 86,000 capacity, 59,000 will be available to fans, with each of the finalists receiving 25,000.
Platini said two years ago that “perhaps, now, we need another category for families that is less expensive” and the fulfilment of his pledge has been welcomed by Football Supporters’ Federation chief executive Kevin Miles, who is also a member of Football Supporters Europe’s executive committee.
“Prices aren’t perfect and we would like to see more tickets priced in the lower category range, but things are a lot better than they were a couple of years ago,” said Miles.
“The 2011 final was held at Wembley and the cheapest tickets then were £176 once the administration fee was taken into account. That was clearly too much and resulted in meetings between Uefa and our members at Football Supporters Europe, which I attended.
“To UEFA’s credit they actually listened to what we said and dropped prices. It’s the first time I can remember an organisation as big as UEFA doing that in relation to ticket prices.
“The cheapest price is still expensive but I suppose the Champions League final is the most prestigious club game in Europe.”
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