16,500 fans will watch the Champions League final

Up to 16,500 fans will be able to attend the Champions League final in Porto on Saturday, UEFA announced with the opening of ticket sales. The number allowed by the Portuguese authorities is 1/3 of the capacity of Dragao, which will accept the trophy dispute after the original host Istanbul dropped out in mid-May due to coronavirus problems. The European football headquarters has already distributed 6,000 tickets for each of the two finalists - Chelsea and Manchester City. To these will be added the traditional invitations, as well as "1700 tickets reserved for the public", which "will be sold on an initial basis".

The passes will cost between 70 and 600 euros - for amounts in the range of 40 to 130 euros for Wednesday's Europa League final between Manchester United and Villarreal in Gdansk. Because of the pandemic, spectators "will have to provide evidence of a negative COVID-19 test" to enter the stadium. Fans coming from abroad "will have to comply with the restrictions on entering the border and the requirements that will apply." As Portugal is on the British government's "green list", neither the players nor the British-based fans will have to be quarantined when they return home.

We recall that the change from Istanbul came after the British authorities put Turkey on their "red list" on May 7 for road conditions. While both finalists are English teams, moving the final to the UK was dropped because the entry restrictions meant that the media, officials and guests would have to be isolated before the match, which was not appropriate. Portugal also hosted the Final Eight in 2020, which allowed the Champions League to end during the pandemic.