UEFA: The Money Makers

The UEFA Champions League is arguably the biggest club level football competition in the world, where millions of people show their support by coming to these matches. Only last year the attendance for the match between Bayern Munich and Inter Milan at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium was recorded to be 73,170 and the year previous to that when Barcelona won their treble by beating Manchester United at Estadio Olimpico in Rome, 62,467 football supporters registered their attendance. The highest registered attendance in a UEFA Champions League final match has been of 1, 35,000 fans which is in itself a colossal figure.

Seeing these rising figures of attendance, The European Football Association, UEFA, thought of becoming a money minting machine and hiked the ticket prices for this year’s finale at the Wembley Stadium, London on May 28th 2011. The association has been blamed for the overpricing of tickets and leaving fans furious over the prices which begin at £176 for general sale including the booking fee. UEFA announced that it will keep 11,000 tickets for general public at a price of £150 plus a £26 ‘administration fee’. Also, 50,000 seats are reserved for fans of both the finalist teams that will play the match but these tickets are priced at only £80 each. These tickets are categorized under “Category 4”.

The general tickets will have various prices costing £150, £225 and £300 plus the additional ‘administration fee’ which is just like the extra icing on the cake of expensive ticket prices. If we compare these ticket prices to those at Rome in 2009, we can clearly see that the prices have almost doubled since then. The rise every year in the Champions League finale tickets since Manchester United played Barcelona is about 15%. Even the World Cup tickets in South Africa were priced at around £100 each which shows the extraordinary charging by UEFA at Wembley. The UEFA director of competitions Giorgio Marchetti said, “This is the market price. Do you think we would have trouble filling Wembley if the prices were higher? Do you think it would be different? We try to strike a balance between the interest of supporters and the interest of the event. Why should we price the tickets lower than what we think is a fair level?” But the Football Supporters Federation Chairman Malcolm Clarke had something else to say. He thrashed the idea of such humongous ticket price by saying, “These prices are absolutely outrageous and take ticket pricing to an absurdly stratospheric new level.” He empathized with the situation of the supporters by adding, “In a difficult economic climate, not only in this country but across Europe, where supporters may be coming from, this represents disgraceful exploitation of fans.”

Last year UEFA earned a reported £11m at Madrid during the final between Bayern Munich and Internazionale and this year they are expecting to make £14m at Wembley. So, whichever team wins hardly matters to UEFA because it is going to make a fortune. If you wish to show your support, get ready to shell out a couple of hundred pounds.

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Evra chosen over Marcelo

Patrice Evra agreed to a new four-year contract with Manchester United which will keep him at the Old Trafford until the summer of 2015. The French defender’s current contract ends in the summer of 2012 and he was speculated to join the La Liga side Real Madrid coming summer.

Usually, Manchester United wouldn’t have started contract talks until the end of the current season but Sir Alex being aware of the potential move of the Left Back to Spain asked David Gill, the chief executive, to put forward the contract talks. According to some reports, Evra was part of a deal where Real Madrid offered the English side player plus cash which included the Brazilian Left Back Marcelo.

‘Why did Sir Alex choose Evra over Marcelo?’ is the ultimate question here. Obviously he would have thought ‘Real’ hard to make such a choice considering the never ending defense problems at Manchester United. And with an experienced player like Gary Neville hanging his boots the difficulty to make a choice only arose. Considering the time a player like Fernando Torres could take to adjust at Chelsea, Marcelo would certainly be a long term investment for Manchester United. But disturbing the defensive line could only bring troubles for a team who has a poor away-form this season. This point can be supported by the statement Marcelo made in the press conference at the end of the 2008-09 season saying, “I now feel better playing as a striker.”

Also, a player of Evra’s cadre is difficult to replace for any club. The pace at which he proceeds towards the goal on the left flank, the last ditch challenges he puts on opponent wingers, the stamina he flaunts on the field are unimaginable for a 22-year old to fill in for. A career total of 458 club appearances and 12 goals in the process show his commitment towards the backline of the Red Devils’ line-up.

But now the possibility of any move has been eroded with the Frenchman committing his long-term future as a Red Devil. This news must have come as a certain shock to Real Madrid who has made Manchester United their feeder club. From Beckham to Van Nistelrooy to C. Ronaldo and now Patrice Evra, Real Madrid wants every good player that has played at United. But for now they have to be satisfied with what they have and play Marcelo who has been tipped as the successor to Roberto Carlos by many spectators.

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