More English football fans than have tickets are expected to descend on Munich, in Germany, for the UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) Champions League final to be played on May 19, 2012, between Chelsea and German club, Bayern Munich, at the Allianz Arena in Munich.
TravelSupermarket, an online comparison website for travel options, has reported that online searches for flight tickets to Munich by Chelsea fans have increased dramatically, by around 3,000 percent, even though a large number of fans will not be able to obtain tickets for the match.
Chelsea football club has been officially allotted 17,500 tickets for the final, but the company report predicts that the number of British fans likely to travel will be well in excess of this number.
Bob Atkinson, a company travel expert, said, ‘In addition to the 17,000-plus fans with tickets, many thousands more will be hoping to travel to Munich in order to bag a last minute ticket. As well as this, many Chelsea fans will travel to simply be in Munich to soak up the atmosphere of the final. This year is one of those rare occasions when one of the teams in the final is from the host city, so there will be a real festival atmosphere throughout the city with lots of big screens, as well bars and restaurants showing the game.
Demand for direct flights to Munich around the time of the game are set to be at a premium, so my advice for travelling fans would be to investigate alternatives such as flights to other German and Austrian cities as well as ferries, trains and even car hire on the continent in order to make your way to Munich – you might even save yourself some money compared to the cost of flights.’
