Aston Villa refused a request from their own fan advisory board (FAB) to cap the price of Champions League tickets with the cheapest adult entry now starting at £70.
The club are set to return to European football’s premier competition for the first time in 42 years having finished fourth in the Premier League last season.
Villa have four guaranteed league phase matches in this season’s competition, starting with a home game against Bayern Munich on October 2, before hosting Bologna on October 22, Juventus on November 27, and Celtic on January 29.
The cheapest prices for adult season ticket (ST) holders start at £70 and go up to £82 depending on which area of the stadium they wish to sit, while non-ST holders will have to pay between £85 and £97 for tickets. For comparison, the cheapest Champions League final tickets at Wembley in June were £60.
Prices for fans aged under 18 start at £20 for ST holders (£30 for non-ST holders) and ranges to £97 (£82 for non-ST holders).
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Concession prices for those aged over 66 and between 18-21 have the same upper price limit as adults, with a small reduction in the lower price bracket (£65 and £70 for ST and non-ST holders respectively). Villa stated there would be no categorisation for each of the four games in the previous meeting with the club’s fan advisory board (FAB), meaning each fixture would be at the same price. This is in contrast to Premier League pricing, with the prices dictated by how high profile each match is.
In that meeting with FAB, with chief operating officer Ben Hatton in attendance, the advisory group made a request to cap Champions League prices at Category A Premier League prices. However, this was refused. President of business operations Chris Heck did not attend the meeting with the FAB saying they were “disappointed” by his absence. “Since this consultation group started eight years ago, Villa chief executive officer (or the equivalent position) have always found time to attend such timely meetings,” a note from the meeting read. “With the amount of transformation expected at Villa Park over the summer, it would have been a key time to communicate to supporters directly.”
Villa Park’s capacity is 42,650 (Neville Williams/Aston Villa FC via Getty Images)
Wednesday’s confirmation of the ticket prices has been met with criticism from supporters, having noted the cheaper ticketing pricing of other English clubs who will be competing in Europe’s blue-chip competition this season, such as Arsenal and Liverpool.
At the start of this season, Villa came under pressure at the start of this campaign after 900 supporters were moved out of their seats due to the club increasing the number of hospitality and corporate areas in the North, Doug Ellis and Trinity Road Stands. There were also issues with some of the toilets in the stadium during the first home game against Arsenal, with overflowing urinals flooding the floors, contributing to the unhappiness from some sections of the fanbase regarding the worsening experiences of matchdays.
Aston Villa Supporters Trust (AVST) are part of the FAB and issued a statement expressing their disappointing and their fears that the move will “alienate fans”.
“As part of the Fans Advisory Board, the AVST met with the club towards the end of last season to discuss season ticket prices including the Champions League if we were to qualify, and made clear pricing should be no higher than that of a Category A game if we did,” it read.
“For the club to announce Champions League ticket prices well above this season’s Category A is extremely disappointing, especially given the recent match day experience with delays of over 30 minutes getting into the ground, issues with access to seating and toilet facilities.
Head coach Unai Emery has led Villa to Europe’s premier club competition for the first time in over four decades (Neville Williams/Aston Villa FC via Getty Images)
“When compared to other English clubs in the Champions League this year and indeed UEFA’s own away ticket price cap, today’s announcement is out of touch. Loyal Villa fans who’ve waited as long as 40 years to celebrate this momentous season are being punished and exploited at the expense of the club’s compliance to PSR, ESR and publicly known revenue generation targets.
“The trust fears the club will alienate fans with these prices and urges the club to rethink ahead of the first home match against Bayern Munich in October.”
Villa have previously stated that growing costs have owed to the club needing to avoid profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) breaches, with increasing matchday revenue viewed as a key solution.
Before the start of the campaign and following consultation with FAB, Villa agreed to limit the price increase on an adult season ticket to five per cent, with all but one Premier League club freezing their prices.
Villa begin their Champions League campaign away to Young Boys on September 17.
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(Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images)