There is little surprise that Arsenal’s UEFA Champions League clash with PSG at the Emirates Stadium has seen some of the greatest demand for tickets in the arena’s history. Fans who are not season ticket holders have been reliant, as usual, on the ballot ticket system in the hope of gaining access to the fixture.
The system has been the subject of scrutiny by supporters since its inception. The system changed from the old method of acquiring tickets, where members would have to sit in an online queue before selecting their seats.
The change came about in order to help tackle ticket touts and online bots who were sweeping up tickets to be sold on illegally. As a result, football. London understands that hundreds of thousands of bot accounts have been identified and terminated, while in February of 2024, the club announced that 16 lead memberships had been permanently terminated in a targeted operation.
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For the PSG match, the demand was understandably massive, even greater than with the visit of Real Madrid in the quarter-finals. 13% of silver membership applicants were successful in their ballot for the PSG match compared to 26% against Los Blancos.
For red members, the story was even bleaker, with just 3% of applicants through the ballot successful, compared to 7% for Madrid. For those who were unsuccessful, the Ticket Exchange does become a slim backup option; for Real Madrid, 748 tickets were successfully picked up on this format.
Significantly less than any other match this season, the previous season low being 2853 against Liverpool. With the numbers seen above, it could be a new record low experienced next week.
Sadly, the news that many will miss out on the game has sparked some unsavoury backlash online, with overseas fans again in their sights. The irony is that the ballot system has arguably made it harder for fans from further afield to commit to matches due to the uncertainty of a ballot application and travel expenses.
There were similar accusations ahead of the game with Real Madrid, and yet despite this, the atmosphere on the night was the best the club has ever seen in the Emirates Stadium. There is a good chance that with even fewer red and silver being successful in the ballot, the atmosphere will still be breaking records in the minds of those in attendance.
Despite the efforts of some, the ultimate goal to make this a magical night in North London, bringing together as many of those passionate about the club as possible into the ground, is on track. Now, it just needs the result to match the energy in the stands and off the field.
