Rugby

Leinster season ticket holders to receive just 3,000 tickets for Champions Cup final

Tickets for the final at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium have been on public sale since last year

Leinster will face Toulouse in the final of the Champions Cup at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday, May 25th. Photograph: John Walton/PA Wire

Johnny Watterson
Wed May 8 2024 - 17:47

The majority of Leinster’s 12,800 season ticket holders are likely to experience frustration and disappointment if they have not already purchased a ticket for the Champions Cup final at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London later this month.

An allocation of approximately 6,000 tickets are shared by the two finalists – four times winners Leinster and Toulouse, who have five wins – leaving each club just 3,000 tickets each. Those tickets will be distributed by the clubs directly, with Leinster again using a lottery system to distribute their quota. The number of tickets allocated to the finalists every year is roughly five per cent of the stadium capacity.

All the teams in the competition sign up to a participation agreement before they take part in the competition. The last two finals were staged in Aviva Stadium, capacity 51,711 and Stade de Marseille, capacity 59,682. The Tottenham Hotspur stadium has a capacity of 62,850.

Leinster, known for its loyal and well-travelled fan base, attracted the vast majority of the 82,300 fans in Croke Park last weekend for their semi-final match against Northampton Saints, when the tournament record number of seats were sold out in less than 48 hours.

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“While there will always be disappointment, we are also aware of many Leinster Rugby supporters that have already purchased tickets through the public sale over the last few months and we are confident that there will be plenty of Leinster supporters in London in a few weeks time,” explained Leinster in a statement.

“Whatever allocation Leinster Rugby receives will not be on general sale and will instead be made available to season ticket holders, as has been the case over the last few finals the club has been fortunate to be part of.”

European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) runs both the semi-final and finals of the Champions Cup and put tickets on sale to the public for this year’s final in May 2023. In a similar way, tickets for the 2025 final in Cardiff will go on sale next week.

This year’s final on Saturday, May 25th is sold out with no tickets available to the public. Typically, some tickets do come back from the clubs that have to travel furthest, but even if Toulouse do not use their entire allocation, the number of tickets that come back go back into public sale and would not meet a fraction of the demand from Leinster.

“Similar to the semi-final, the Investec Champions Cup Final is an EPCR run event and as such, Leinster Rugby has no control over the amount of tickets received,” added Leinster.

“As a destination final, tickets have been on sale by EPCR since last year to ensure in as much as possible a full capacity and as a result the allocation received will not meet the demands of our 12,800 Season Ticket Holders.”

Johnny Watterson

Johnny Watterson

Johnny Watterson is a sports writer with The Irish Times

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