Aston Villa will play Paris Saint-Germain in the French capital on Wednesday, April 9
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Parc des Princes, the home of PSG
Parc des Princes, the home of PSG(Image: Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Many Aston Villa fans were left disappointed after general admission tickets for the trip to Paris Saint-Germain sold out within hours.
Unai Emery’s side will head to Paris in two weeks’ time for the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Wednesday, April 9, before hosting the French champions at Villa Park the following Tuesday.
Villa were only given an allocation of 2,000 tickets for the match at the Parc des Princes, despite this being less than five per cent of the stadium’s capacity.
UEFA rules state that home clubs must make at least five per cent of the stadium's capacity available exclusively to visiting supporters, in an area that can be segregated.
Previously, the reduced allocation for away supporters was implemented by French police, a decision Liverpool contested last month.
Liverpool played PSG in the round of 16 and opened contact with the Ligue 1 side and UEFA to challenge the restriction imposed by the French authorities.
Newcastle United also lodged a complaint after they, too, were given an allocation below five per cent last season. Football Supporters Europe (FSE) also challenged the decision on Newcastle’s behalf.
Back in January, Man City confirmed that season ticket holders, hospitality members, players, club officials and staff would receive tickets within their allocation of 2,024.
A portion of the 2,000 tickets allocated to Villa also went to hospitality, players and staff, which led to a rapid sell-out of general admission tickets.
They sold out shortly after being made available to fans who had attended three or more away Champions League matches this season.
A maximum of 1,000 supporters could have purchased tickets in the first sales window, which opened for fans who had been to all five previous away Champions League games.
After fans who had made four away trips were given the opportunity to purchase tickets from 2pm last Thursday, the club temporarily took them off sale from 3:45pm until 4pm, when supporters with a three-game away history could buy theirs.
Once the club confirmed that tickets had sold out, many fans vented their anger at the limited pool of tickets which were made available for those who had followed the club around Europe this season and last.
One fan on X (formerly Twitter) said: "People who have shown the loyalty to travel to 2 or 3 champions league aways being denied even the chance to get tickets to our biggest game in years."
Another wrote: "Still can’t believe that hundreds of #avfc fans who’ve been going for years are going to miss out on being there at PSG - a game they deserve to be at more than anyone."
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