LONDON - Around 1500 Everton fans have had their tickets cancelled for Thursday's UEFA Cup soccer game against Nuremberg in Germany because of fears over hooliganism, the English Premier League club said on Today.
UEFA classified the match as high-risk after it emerged that Nuremberg had sold some
1500 tickets direct to Everton fans, who would have been sitting among home supporters.
UEFA later issued a statement saying the decision to withdraw the tickets had been taken by Nuremberg themselves following consultations with police. UEFA said the allocation of tickets was purely the responsibility of the host club.
According to UEFA, the problem arose after a "bug" in Nuremberg's online ticketing system allowed Everton fans to buy tickets allocated to home fans.
The governing body said that none of the purchases had been confirmed and that no money had been taken from the fans.
Everton were allocated fewer than 3000 tickets for the ground, which holds 47,000 and said they had received requests for five times that number.
"We would never recommend that supporters get tickets through the host club," said Everton spokesman Ian Ross.
"There are concerns when they do that. Those who bought them are being told now they can't use them."
- REUTERS
