Europa League Final 2019: Arsenal and Chelsea Fans Disappointed At Choice Of Stadium

A great number of fans won’t be able to attend the May 29 Europa League final between London soccer clubs Arsenal and Chelsea because it is going to be staged in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, and because the number of tickets allocated to fans is very low.

The Olympic stadium in Baku holds almost 70,000. European football association UEFA has allocated 6,000 tickets each to Arsenal and Chelsea,  and, according to British news reports, both clubs are struggling to sell even those, as fans are faced with elaborate logistics if they want to make it to Baku.

The effort of traveling some 2,500 miles to where Eastern Europe crosses into Western Asia, becomes all the more apparent considering that the home stadiums of both finalists in London are not even eight miles apart. 

After receiving many complaints from fans, Arsenal released the following statement on the club’s website: 

“Everyone at Arsenal is delighted to have reached the Uefa Europa League final and we are all very much looking forward to the match against Chelsea on Wednesday, May 29.

“However, we are bitterly disappointed by the fact that due to transport limitations Uefa can only make a maximum of 6,000 tickets available to Arsenal for a stadium with a capacity of well over 60,000. Time will tell if it is even possible for 6,000 Arsenal fans to attend the match, given how extreme the travel challenges are.

 

“We have 45,000 season-ticket holders and for so many fans to miss out due to Uefa selecting a final venue with such limited transport provision is quite simply not right. The reality is that whoever reached the final would not be able to meet demand from their supporters.”

The statement continues: “On behalf of our fans, we would like to understand the criteria by which venues are selected for finals, and also how supporter requirements are taken into account as part of this. 

“Moving forward we would urge Uefa to ensure that supporter logistics and requirements are a key part of any future decisions for final venues as what has happened this season is unacceptable, and cannot be repeated. We would be happy to join any future discussions to avoid this situation happening again.”

According to the BBC, UEFA has since offered help with the logistics, seeing that there are not direct flights to the Azerbaijan capital in the week of the final.

According to talksport.com, “both clubs have already recruited Thomas Cook to come up with a £979-per-person day-trip to Baku to reduce costs” for ticket holders, although hat offer had expired at press time.

UEFA’s competition director Girogio Marchetti said the association would consider it “unfair to exclude venues based on their decentralised geographical position.”

What makes the situation even more complicated it the fact that some Arsenal season-ticket holders with dual British and Armenian citizenship have been denied visas for Baku, because of political tensions between Armenia and neighbouring Azerbaijan.

Arsenal has many such fans, seeing that one of the club’s star players, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, is Armenian, and the captain of the Armenia national team. Mkhitaryan missed an Europa League group game against Qarabag, which took place in Baku earlier this season, because of the issue. Arsenal is currently liaising with the Foreign Office regarding this.