Pay £1,550 to ‘guarantee’ an England seat, win a sponsor’s freebie or face

Football fans hoping to attend the upcoming European Championship are frantically refreshing their emails this week to see if their tickets have been cancelled as stadiums around the continent are forced to reduce capacity because of the pandemic.

But at the same time as cancelling huge numbers of tickets for the delayed tournament, organiser UEFA is buying up social media adverts saying there is a guaranteed way anyone can attend matches: by spending thousands of euros on seats in hospitality boxes.

As tournament organisers grapple with one of the most complex sporting events in history, The Athletic can reveal:

UEFA’s authorised agents are offering the chance to “guarantee your place” in hospitality seats at matches where many ordinary tickets have been cancelled.