FA issue controversial statement amid fan frustrations over FA Cup final ticket prices | OneFootball

The Football Association has issued a statement explaining the significant hike in this season’s FA Cup final tickets for when Manchester City take on Crystal Palace at Wembley.

Manchester City will take on Crystal Palace on Saturday 17th May at Wembley and have seen their subsequent Premier League meeting move to 20th May, a fixture that will mark Kevin De Bruyne’s final appearance at the Etihad Stadium in a sky blue jersey.

There has been tension amongst Manchester City fans and the club board over rising ticket prices and policies treading in a direction that has left regular, match-attending fans fighting for their voices to be heard and writing open letters to the likes of chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak and manager Pep Guardiola.

Guardiola sympathised with City’s inability to fill out their allocation sections of seats in the FA Cup semi-final win against Nottingham Forest last week, sending a strong message of support and understanding to travelling fans from Manchester to London who have faced financial difficulties to make the journey down south.

With just two weeks for the FA Cup final, English football’s governing body has announced prices for this year’s edition of the fixture. A Category 1 ticket will cost £175, representing a hike of £30 (20%) from the 2024 final and a Category 2 tickets is worth £125, a rise of £10 (8.77%) from the same tickets last year.

Category 3 prices have been priced at £75, a 7% increase from last year’s Manchester derby final and Category 4 tickets are valued at £50, tallying to an increase of £5 (11%). The rising prices for this year’s final has drawn widespread criticism from Manchester City and Crystal Palace supporters alike.

An FA spokesperson said: “The FA Cup is our biggest revenue producer, and it allows us to invest more funding into every level of English football. We regularly review our ticket prices for FA Cup matches at Wembley Stadium to ensure they are in line with other major sporting events.

“We have not increased the prices of tickets for the Final over the last six years despite the rise of inflation during this period. This season, we have introduced limited price increases for tickets to the Final.

“The majority of these in the higher-priced categories and minimal increases in the lower-priced categories. We will be freezing the prices of almost all tickets to the Emirates FA Cup Final for the next three years.”

Manchester City fans will reasonably be left aggrieved with the latest instance of inflated ticket prices and amidst an ongoing dialogue and battle with the club’s hierarchy over the lack of new Season Tickets and the club’s increasing dealigs with third-party resale companies, die-hard fans have been left in limbo once again.

Given the startling hike in prices for this season’s FA Cup final, few will be surprised if Manchester City are once again unable to fill out their allocation and this subject will be a hot topic of debate as the 2024-25 season comes to a close and Guardiola’s men head to the United States to take part in the FIFA Club World Cup.