Champions League: Trouble over prices: Bayern fans cancel Donetsk tickets

After anger over ticket prices for FC Bayern’s Champions League game against Shakhtar Donetsk, there has been a wave of cancellations from Munich supporters. As the German soccer record champions announced upon request, after initially receiving 55,000 requests for tickets, they only had 19,000 on Monday afternoon. FC Bayern has no influence on the pricing of Shakhtar, which plays its games in Gelsenkirchen because of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.

The active Bayern fan scene called for a boycott of the game on December 10th. “Large parts of the active Südkurve will not attend the away game against Shakhtar Donetsk due to the price circumstances,” said a statement from Südkurve Munich. “Bayern fans, don’t let yourself be taken for a ride and boycott the away game at Shakhtar Donetsk.” They are in favor of “fair pricing.”

Dynamic pricing system

The supporters pointed to the Ukrainian club’s dynamic pricing system, which results in particularly high prices for a prominent opponent based in the same country as the venue, such as FC Bayern. When calling for a boycott, Südkurve Munich referred to the price for supporters of other clubs in away games against Donetsk.

Accordingly, Bayern fans pay 105 euros for a seat, Atalanta Bergamo supporters get tickets from 28 euros and Young Boys from 31 euros. Standing room tickets should therefore cost 52 euros for Bayern fans – more than twice as much as for Bergamo supporters. Standing places at Bayern home games cost 19 euros.

Next homework this week

This week, FC Bayern will only face a home game in the reformed Champions League on Wednesday (9 p.m. / DAZN) against Benfica Lisbon. After the defeats against Aston Villa (0:1) and FC Barcelona (1:4), the Munich team is under pressure. In the second home game of this premier class season, after the 9-2 win against Dinamo Zagreb at the start, the team is now aiming for their second win against the Portuguese team of former Heidenheim player Jan-Niklas Beste.

The Munich team is in 23rd place out of 36 teams. Only the first eight teams advance to the round of 16. The following 16 teams in the table will play the other eight participants in the round of 16 in a knockout round.