Because of the war, Shakhtar Donetsk has to play its home game against FC Bayern at Schalke. The high prices for the tickets are causing enormous excitement, and Munich fans are threatening a boycott. Now their uprising is successful.
The prices for tickets have been causing trouble and headlines for weeks. On December 10th (9 p.m., Amazon Prime Video), FC Bayern will play away to Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League. Because of the war, the Ukrainian club cannot play its home games at home and instead uses the stadium in Gelsenkirchen.
Donetsk basically has home advantage against Schalke this evening. The prices for the game have so far been very high: a seat cost 105 euros, a seat in the standing area costs 52 euros. FC Bayern fans called for a boycott. “Bayern fans, don’t let yourself be taken for a ride and boycott the away game at Shakhtar Donetsk,” said the call from the ultra scene “Südkurve Munich”.
Many fans of the German football record champions followed suit. Around 36,000 ticket orders were canceled at FC Bayern. The fans also protested with banners at games, also against what they saw as FC Bayern’s lack of commitment to this matter up to that point. The world club originally received 55,000 orders for the away game.
The reason for the high prices is the dynamic pricing system that Donetsk uses for tickets for the Bayern game. This means that ticket prices can increase significantly depending on demand. In this case, the price surcharge is significantly higher than what fans of previous opponents Young Boys Bern and Atalanta Bergamo had to pay in games against Donetsk at Schalke. A standing room against Bern cost around half of what Donetsk had previously charged against Bayern.
According to the rules of the European Football Association Uefa, Shakhtar is allowed to set the prices for the game against Bayern like this. For the Champions League there is a cap of 60 euros for tickets for away fans. In practice, however, this only means that a certain contingent of tickets must adhere to this limit.
FC Bayern are only 17th in the Champions League table
Now Donetsk is responding to the fans’ call for a boycott and the ticket cancellations. After discussions with FC Bayern, it was decided to reduce the standing room prices to 26 euros per ticket. Those responsible in Bavaria were very committed to this. They understand that a lack of fan support can have an impact on the game.
A statement from FC Bayern on Friday afternoon said: “After coordination with FC Bayern, Shakhtar Donetsk has redesigned the ticket prices for the Champions League game on December 10, 2024 (9 p.m.) in the Arena at Schalke.”
The tickets can be requested from now until Monday, November 18th at 5 p.m. under the new, more favorable conditions via the FC Bayern web shop. The reduced day ticket price for a seat in the fan block, which falls under UEFA’s price limit for visiting team fans (five percent of the stadium capacity), is now 45 euros.
The Munich team are currently only in 17th place in the table of the reformed preliminary round of the Champions League. Bayern have lost against FC Barcelona (1:4) and Aston Villa (0:1) in the last few weeks.
Julien Wolff is a football editor and is in the stadium for almost every FC Bayern game in the Champions League. He has been reporting from Munich since 2011 about FC Bayernalso about the Bundesliga and the national team.
