UEFA: Ireland could take the whole stadium

THERE was further unwelcome ticket news for Irish fans yesterday when UEFA announced a reduction in allocations for the European Championships.

For group games the standard allocation of 20% to each team has been reduced to 16% of venue capacity, while for the quarter-finals and semi-finals the figure is down from 6,000 to 5,000, regardless of the size of the venue. Supporters of the two finalists will receive 9,000 tickets each.

“We have reduced the capacity of supporters to 5,000 each,” Martin Kallen, UEFA’s operations director for Euro 2012 told reporters in Kiev. “It makes it easier logistically than when we have 20% of the capacity for each. Some countries do not have as many supporters and we want to give local people a chance to ensure we have full stadiums.”