Arsenal fans are facing a staggering £15,000 bill to get to the Champions League final.
Ticket resale sites are already offering seats priced at £6,160 for the European showpiece in Budapest on May 30. Even budget airlines saw prices top £3,000 for a one-way flight after Arsenal clinched their place in the final, which is being held in the 67,000 capacity Ferenc Puskas Stadium.
Some hotel prices are topping £2,500-a-night in Budapest for the weekend when Arsenal face Paris Saint-Germain, which brings the huge travel bill to around £15,000.
UEFA are urging fans not to buy tickets from resale sites and Arsenal season ticket holders will go into a ballot for the official sale of 16,824 allocated to the Gunners. The ticket prices range from £60 all the way up to £800, but those are tickets on offer through official channels.
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And the fans still face a huge bill and massive challenge to get to Budapest with Arsenal and UEFA realistically unable to do anything about the rising cost. Arsenal and PSG both have huge fan bases which has increased demand, while non-ticket holders are also going to Budapest with Declan Rice even saying he thinks 200,000 supporters could make the trip.
Arsenal are holding a screening at the Emirates – the kick-off is at 5pm UK time on that Saturday – but again the demand will be huge. Gunners fans are now sweating on the ballot for tickets – which began on Thursday – and the scramble has sent demand and prices through the roof.
But even some season ticket holders who get a ticket for the final will face a huge travel bill and chaos trying to make the trip. UEFA insist that fans will have to download an app to prove the identity and are also warning fans not to buy from unofficial ticket resale tickets because if discovered they will be turned away.
View 3 ImagesArsenal beat Atletico Madrid 2-1 on aggregate in the semi-final (Image: UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
UEFA have issued guidance which says: “UEFA urges all football fans to refrain from purchasing tickets or hospitality packages from unauthorised sellers, agents or websites, as tickets obtained in breach of UEFA’s terms and conditions will be invalid, and purchasers of such tickets may be refused admission to the stadium.
“To help keep tickets in the hands of genuine fans, UEFA is introducing additional measures to reduce the risk of unauthorised resale for the 2026 UEFA men’s club competition finals.
“As part of the lottery process applicants will be ranked, and the selected applicants must then download the UEFA Mobile Tickets app and register with the mobile phone they will use to enter the stadium in order to remain in the lottery process.
“Successful applicants must then use this registered mobile phone to access the stadium on matchday, as the ticket of the purchaser will be non-transferable.
View 3 ImagesThe final will take place at the Ferenc Puskas Stadium on May 30(Image: Eddie Keogh/Getty Images)
“In line with these non-transferability provisions, ticket buyers unable to attend may resell their tickets at face value through the official UEFA resale platform, with no seller fees applied. Access to purchase resale tickets will be granted exclusively to selected fans who were unsuccessful in the lottery.”
The Arsenal Supporters’ Trust said: “The small Budapest ticket allocation is why we pushed Arsenal for a home screening at the Emirates. There was good engagement with the club recognising it as something important to deliver for supporters. It is now hoped up to 35k will attend and at a very fair entry price.
“The AST has been campaigning for many years to get UEFA to treat fans of the competing finalists better. This stems back to the debacle in Baku. There has been some improvement but this year we are disappointed to see an allocation of only 17,000 tickets.
“We have also raised this with Arsenal who say they will convey this to UEFA. But it won’t change matters for this year. UEFA needs to remember it is the fans who support the competition throughout the group stages and knock out rounds and show more respect to our position when making plans for the final.”
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