West Ham fans will be heartbroken by the 4,890 seats allocated for the team for the Europa Conference League final – and getting to Prague is made even more difficult as travel prices have skyrocketed.
With the flagship event taking place on June 7th at Prague’s Eden Arena, the eyes of the world will be on the Czech capital.
But the stadium has a capacity of 19,370 – less than a third the size of London Stadium, home of West Ham in Stratford.
Eager West Ham quickly made their travel arrangements to Prague after Thursday’s semi-final win at AZ Alkmaar.
But that means the cheapest direct flight to Prague is now £1,100, according to Skyscanner, and it’s likely to get worse as thousands of fans travel to soak up the atmosphere in the country’s capital.
The final of the Europa Conference League will take place on June 7th in the Eden Arena with 19,370 seats
West Ham will receive fewer than 5,000 tickets despite playing at a 60,000 seat stadium
Skyscanner reports that the cheapest return flights to Prague cost nearly £1,100
Fans have revealed their plans on social media. Some are happy they booked before West Ham reached the final, others have made arrangements to travel via Manchester or other cities to save money.
Around 10,000 West Ham fans without tickets attended last season’s Europa League semi-final defeat by Eintracht Frankfurt and it is believed many will also travel to West Ham’s first European final in 47 years.
UEFA initially provided 8,500 tickets to the public and reserved 4,300 for sponsors and national associations. That means each team will only get 4,890 tickets to the final.
By way of comparison, West Ham have sold 55,000 season tickets for the 2022–23 season meaning less than one in eleven regular home fans can legitimately buy a ticket for the Hammers section.
Even Fiorentina’s Stadio Artemio Franchi can seat 43,147 spectators – more than twice as many as that day.
Many fans are still expected to travel to Prague to soak up the atmosphere in the historic city, but there are concerns that fans could be scammed by secondary ticket sites and scammers.
West Ham secured their place in the final against Fiorentina by beating Dutch club AZ Alkmaar
Even before West Ham’s place in the final was confirmed with a 1-0 win over AZ Alkmaar, the Metropolitan Police and the FA were voicing their public order concerns, particularly regarding ticketless supporters.
UEFA insisted they could not change the venue as last year’s game was awarded to Prague after a year-long bid process. However, they accepted their mistake and vowed to stage next year’s final in a stadium with a minimum capacity of 30,000 spectators.
The Met would be responsible for maintaining order among the traveling fans as West Ham are a London club. The Football Policing Unit is responsible for England national team away matches, but its responsibilities are devolved to the local club affairs departments.
To make matters worse, with less than three weeks to go before the final, there is limited preparation time to either support locally in Prague or give fans more options in East London.
And safety fears in Prague are unlikely to be dampened after Thursday’s incident in Holland, when West Ham players stepped in after the final whistle to defend their families from AZ Alkmaar’s ‘Ultras’.
The Metropolitan Police and the FA previously expressed concerns about low ticket numbers
The Hammers were considering plans for a fan zone outside their home ground at London Stadium
MailSport previously revealed that West Ham are considering converting an area of the Olympic Park surrounding the club’s home stadium into a fan zone so fans can come together and enjoy the final in June.
But the game against Fiorentina is West Ham’s first European final in 47 years and it won’t be an opportunity many Hammers fans won’t want to miss if they can.
As previously reported, the cheapest ticket for the final on 7 June is just £22.11, while the most expensive ticket is £110.56.
However, fans on the black market will probably have to expect significantly higher prices – with no guarantee that their tickets are authentic.
