UEFA are ‘looking into’ why circa 1,000 Inter fans with legally purchased tickets were not allowed into the Porto match, as Juventus and today Napoli also face serious problems, leading to calls for a fundamental change in how away tickets are allocated.
The European football governing body is facing challenges to transform the ticketing process following a serious of issues over the last week alone.
Last night circa 1,000 Inter fans had purchased tickets legally to sit in different areas of the Estadio do Dragao, but even after negotiations hours beforehand to give them the all-clear, they were turned away at the gates.
Inter made a formal complaint and UEFA released a statement today confirming they are investigating.
“UEFA had been made aware that a large contingent of visiting supporters have procured tickets in home sectors of the stadium.
“Mitigation measures were discussed between both clubs. UEFA is currently looking into the matter.”
FC Porto were only obliged to allocate 5% of stadium capacity for away teams, but that is increasingly looking like an outdated and unfair approach.
We already saw many Milan fans managed to buy tickets to their away match against Tottenham, especially the huge Italian community in London.
When the ticket allocations are so limited and yet they are freely available on the Internet for other sectors, inevitably there will be far more away supporters entering the stadium than originally planned.
Juventus had a similar issue ahead of last week’s first leg Europa League Round of 16 game, as 1,400 SC Freiburg fans managed to buy tickets for the home end at the Allianz Juventus Stadium in Turin.
They got these by purchasing Juve club memberships and buying tickets for the home end.
UEFA does not permit home and away supporters to mix in the stands in any of its competitions, so are facing calls to expand the number of away tickets allocated.