Uefa refuse to budge on Champions League ticket pricing
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Uefa today ruled out any change to the ticket prices for the Champions League final at Wembley in May despite Michel Platini admitting they were too expensive.
The cheapest ticket on public sale for the final on May 28 will be £150 plus a £26 booking fee and UEFA president Platini has said family tickets should be half the price they are on sale for.
But UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino said at a news conference in Paris today: "The ticket prices for Wembley will not change - the ticket sales have already started and the president expressed his opinion about that."
The final will be the second time it has been played on a Saturday - a move Platini championed to enable more families to attend.
Platini said in French sports daily L'Equipe: "It's good that we have been alerted about it and we are going to look at it again in the future."
He added that the pricing "isn't brilliant".
UEFA also revealed their qualification format for the 2014 World Cup and that they will have no power over whether the play-offs are seeded or not.
The 13 European qualifiers will come from 53 countries split into eight groups of six teams and one of five. The group winners will qualify automatically and the eight best runners-up will contest home-and-away play-offs to determine the other four places.
Infantino added: "We have only decided on the format. The regulations and any question related to seedings will be done by FIFA. The only thing we do is the format and the dates."
The European governing body will also establish a network of "integrity officers" throughout Europe involving all 53 national associations to target corruption.
"It is a danger in as far as it affects the soul of football and that's why we have decided to tackle this issue as strongly as possible," said Infantino.
"It's not a huge issue but if you don't eradicate the cancer before it starts to develop it can become a danger."
UEFA monitor 29,000 matches a season in the first and second divisions of all 53 national associations to see whether there are irregular betting patterns.
Tomorrow's UEFA Congress will see Platini re-elected unopposed for another four years as president.
Spain's Angel Villar Llona will also be re-elected unopposed as a FIFA vice-president and Germany's Theo Zwanziger will replace Frank Beckenbauer as a FIFA executive committee member.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments