EURO 2024: SPAIN CRIES FOUL OVER ENGLAND FANS’ TIDAL WAVE IN FINAL

The Spanish press is crying foul over the allocation of seats for the Euro 2024 final between Spain and England on Sunday (9pm). According to Cadena Ser, there will only be 8,000 or 9,000 Spaniards compared to 50,000 English in the stands.

The Euro 2024 final is set to be very unbalanced… in the stands. The Spanish press is crying foul over the very unequal distribution of seats at the Olympiastadion in Berlin on Sunday (9pm) for the final between Spain and England . According to the programme El Larguero de la Cadena Ser , there will only be between 8,000 and 9,000 Spaniards in the stands of a stadium with 80,000 seats, reduced to 70,000 for the competition.

Spanish Federation and UEFA plead not guilty

“In a stadium with a capacity of 70,000 people, there will be more than 50,000 English people,” lamented Manu Carreno, the show’s host. He explained that he had received several requests from listeners to obtain precious tickets given their inability to obtain them in any other way. “Beyond the fact that our friends or family ask us for tickets, they ask the Federation, which also claims not to have any tickets,” he said in surprise.

The Spanish Federation (RFEF) assures, for its part, that it has received only 7,000 tickets and absolves itself of any responsibility for this low turnout that is to be feared. This makes David Cebollada, president of the Spanish supporters’ club Marea Roja (the red tide), jump. “In this Euro, we are suffering from what no one knows,” he rages on Cadena Ser . He explains the disaffection of Spanish fans by the scheduling of matches in stadiums far from the base camp of Luis de la Fuente’s men.

He also turns on UEFA. “They sent codes and I don’t know who received them. Some of them arrived at our supporters’ club. For the first three games we were able to buy tickets but from then on UEFA and the RFEF abandoned us.”

He also denounces the inefficiency of the European Confederation’s ticket resale system. “This method encourages resale,” he laments, regretting that these tickets put back on the market are not reserved for the Spanish public. “It’s a real scandal. We’ve been working on this for 12 years and there are partners who have a flight and a hotel paid for but who will not have access to the stadium.”

The mystery of the allocation of seats remains, especially since UEFA has absolved itself of any responsibility. The Spanish media outlet doubts the establishment of quotas of seats for each Federation, as is the case in the Champions League final for example. Accustomed to travelling in very large numbers, the English supporters have clearly found a way to get tickets. They will attend their second consecutive Euro final, three years after the one they lost to Italy at Wembley (1-1, 3-2 on penalties) which turned into a brawl in the stands when fans without tickets tried and succeeded in entering the stadium.

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