Multi-million pound ticket windfall for Champions League finalists

By David Owen

February 19 – This season’s European Champions’ League finalists are set to earn around £4 million ($6.5 million) from ticket sales alone.

With tickets for the showcase match – to be staged on Saturday, May 28 at London’s Wembley Stadium – priced at up to £300 ($487) each, UEFA competitions director Giorgio Marchetti has indicated to Insideworldfootball that overall ticketing revenues are expected to reach £13 million-£14 million ($21 million-$23 million)

According to the revenue split outlined by Marchetti, the two clubs involved will each receive 30 per cent of this.

The remaining 40 percent – £5.2 million-£5.6 million ($8.4 million-$9.1 million) –  will be divided equally between UEFA itself and the local organising committee.

It will be the first time since its reconstruction that the iconic venue has hosted Europe’s biggest club football occasion.

With three London clubs – Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur – in the Last 16 of this season’s competition and Manchester United also involved, hopes are high for at least one domestic representative in the match.

Another popular finalist would be Barcelona, a team featuring many of the Spanish players who won last year’s World Cup.

Former England and Barcelona striker Gary Lineker, present at last week’s ticket launch in London’s City Hall, said of the current Barcelona squad: “I honestly think they could well be the greatest club side we’ll ever see.”

Since it originated in the 1950s, the prestigious European Cup has never been won by a London club.

The net capacity of Wembley for this year’s match will be about 86,000, with each finalist entitled to an allocation of 25,000 tickets.

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