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UEFA warns Man United and Tottenham fans about unofficial sales of Europa League final tickets

BILBAO, Spain (AP) — With tens of thousands of fans of Manchester United and Tottenham expected in Bilbao this week for the Europa League final, UEFA warned them Monday about buying unauthorized tickets which should not get them into the stadium.

Both clubs, which have huge fan bases, were each allocated 15,000 tickets in the 50,000-capacity venue with some priced at just 40 euros ($45). Those numbers are typical for a Europa League final.

Prices in the thousands of euros (dollars) have been demanded on secondary ticketing websites and UEFA said buyers could be refused entry Wednesday at Athletic Bilbao’s stadium.

“Such tickets may be canceled by UEFA at any time and fans are likely to be refused entry or be ejected from the stadium,” the European soccer body said in a statement.

“In addition, fans may not receive the tickets which they have purchased from these unauthorized third parties,” UEFA said, specifying “websites, agencies, touts” as problematic sellers.

UEFA also sold about 11,000 tickets in a global sale through its website and nearly 9,000 were retained for sponsors, broadcasters, European soccer federations and guests.

All tickets were distributed digitally with security features in a UEFA ticketing app for cellphones designed to prevent the buyer transferring them.

“Only the phone used to download the mobile tickets will be able to access the stadium,” UEFA warned. “Screenshots of mobile tickets are not valid tickets.”

UEFA typically chooses venues for European club competition finals at least two years in advance, and has long faced criticism it regards as unrealistic for not switching stadiums to suit the two teams. Those teams advance through semifinals played just two or three weeks before the final.

Bilbao was allocated the Europa League final in July 2021 as part of a compensation package for the city being dropped by UEFA as a host for the men’s European Championship played that summer one year late because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In April 2021, UEFA replaced Bilbao with Seville because the city could not give UEFA guarantees on how many spectators would be able to attend games due to public health rules during the pandemic.

Bilbao was picked as a Euro host in 2014 when the most senior Spanish official in soccer was Angel Maria Villar, then a FIFA and UEFA vice president and a native of the Basque city.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

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