Celtic and Rangers top list of most expensive Champions League tickets

Celtic and Rangers were found to be the most expensive clubs to visit on average for away fans in last season’s Champions League.

Average prices for supporters visiting Celtic Park and Ibrox hovered just below the €70 UEFA price cap set for away tickets in Europe’s premier club competition – €69.45 at Celtic and €68.85 at Rangers.

A Football Supporters Europe (FSE) press release said the cost of away tickets in the Champions League and UEFA’s other club competitions remains “stubbornly high”, and that there was significant variation between countries.

Away tickets were sold at the price cap at more than 18 per cent of Champions League matches last season, with the average away ticket price in the 2022-23 competition being €47 (£41).

FSE found 12 of the 32 teams in last season’s Champions League group phase charged the maximum away ticket price of €70 at least once during the season.

Rangers did so twice, Celtic three times and European champions Manchester City did so on six occasions. Despite that, City were the eighth-cheapest club to watch in the Champions League, with away tickets averaging at just over €40.

Tickets were sold at the Europa League’s €45 price cap at a quarter of matches in that competition, with the average away ticket price just under €30.

Away ticket prices in Germany were more than €20 cheaper than the competition average, with standing sectors a big contributor to this and some tickets priced as low as €15.

Only one game in Germany was found to be charged at the away price cap, compared to 16 in Spain, 10 in Italy and nine in England.

FSE executive director Ronan Evain said: “It is FSE’s firm position that clubs have a responsibility to reward the loyalty of travelling fans and to facilitate affordable pricing, especially considering the increase of revenue for all clubs during the next UCC cycle.

“We will be monitoring this season’s away ticket prices closely and continue to drive this message with UEFA and stakeholders.”

The 70-euro price cap for the Champions League was introduced by UEFA in 2019 after clubs were charging as much as 119 euros to away supporters at matches in the 2018-19 season.

The price cap for the Europa Conference League was set at 25 euros prior to the start of the current season.