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UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin hits back at Klopp and defends Champions League ticket policy

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin during the news conference

UEFA boss Aleksander Ceferin has spoken to Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp following criticism of the governing body’s policy on the allocation of Champions League final tickets.

Liverpool booked their spot in the Champions League final following a dramatic victory over Villarreal last week. 

Shortly after securing their place in the showpiece, Klopp gave his backing to the club's fan group 'Spirit of Shankly' who accused UEFA of 'ripping off' supporters who wished to attend the historic fixture against Real Madrid.
With the final being held at Stade de France, the total amount of tickets for the event is 75,000. Despite this, each club has received just 19,618, while a further 12,000 were put on general sale by Europe's governing body.
The remaining tickets have gone to UEFA's 'family' of sponsors and officials.
Prices for the available tickets have also come under scrutiny, with one-fifth of Liverpool's allocation costing between £410 and £578. Just over half of the tickets are priced at £125 while nearly a quarter will be available at £50.

Speaking during a press conference last week, Klopp hit out at the policy, saying: "It is absolutely not right, but it happens everywhere. It doesn't make it better, just in this specific case you are not only paying more than last time for a ticket, but you only get 50% of the tickets and the rest goes to people who pay thousands and thousands for the tickets."

Ceferin, who admitted , defended his organisation saying: "I explained the same thing to one of the coaches of the two (finalist) teams a couple of days ago and I can do it here. I explained it to him a bit more and took much more time because I went through every single number.

"From the revenues from the finals, UEFA gets 6.5% and 93.5% goes to the clubs. From the other matches 100 per cent of the revenues goes to the clubs.
"Fans of both teams get 20,000 tickets each. If sponsors that pay 100 or more million euros sponsorship - of which 93.5 per cent goes to the same clubs - get some tickets, it's part of a contractual obligation that we have.
"UEFA doesn't get more tickets than the others. Some tickets go to the market, some tickets go to the fans and some go to the partners. It's not UEFA. I'm not giving tickets for free to my friends or selling to my friends.
"It's the system that works, and clubs couldn't function differently.
"For us, not much will change if all the tickets will be 10 euros, but it will change a lot for the clubs. A lot."

The Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid takes place on Saturday, May 28.

READ MORE: Liverpool news: Jurgen Klopp says hoping for Manchester City slip is 'wasted energy'

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