Thousands of Chelsea and Liverpool fans are being asked to pay as much as a record £3,900 by touts for FA Cup Final tickets.
The unprecedented black market prices have been sparked by the fact that Saturday’s match is the first English football showpiece between two “big six” clubs since 2007 — and only the second at Wembley in 16 years.
Dozens of websites are advertising tickets for the game, despite a huge legal crackdown over the past three years. The top price currently being charged is £3,881.25 for a “longside lower tier” seat — more than 33 times the £115 face value. It includes a £569.25 “commission” and £8 postage.
The fee is being demanded by Barcelona-based footballclubtickets website, which is owned by Belize-based World Wide Ticket Solutions.
Football authorities and the police have found it hard to close down and prosecute offshore tout websites. Yesterday the site claimed it still had 266 tickets to sell and in total it is thought that several thousands have found their way into the hands of touts.
Fans said they were prepared to run the risks of going to an illegal tout if they missed out on “legitimate” tickets.
One Liverpool fan calling himself It’s Jimmy Corkhill wrote on a fans’ website: “If I’m not successful in the inevitable ballot for members I am going to a tout. It’s Liverpool in the FA Cup Final. Beg, borrow or steal, I will be in the ground by kick-off.”
Supporters claim the allocation system is open to abuse because almost half the seats are distributed to members of “the football family” who may not have a close affiliation with either of the finalists.
The clubs have been allocated 25,000 tickets each out of a Wembley capacity of 90,000 — about 7,000 fewer than they each received for the semi-finals.
Fans argue that the combined capacities of the two home stadiums, Stamford Bridge and Anfield, which sell out for almost every Premier League game, is about the same as Wembley, leaving a huge unfilled demand for tickets.
The face values of other tickets are £85, £65 and £45.
