By Matthias Koch
The biggest game in the club’s history is now causing a huge stir.
On September 20th, 1. FC Union will face Real Madrid in their Champions League debut. Thousands of Union fans want to go to the Bernabeu Stadium to see the cracker against Los Blancos. The official guest contingent of 3,840 tickets has been sold out since Tuesday.
Many Union players therefore tried to buy tickets in Real’s home areas. Free advance sales began on Tuesday.
This led to a major annoyance: with a German IP address, which every computer has as an identifier, German customers couldn’t even access the online shop. German means of payment are also not accepted. Real Madrid is blocking German ticket buyers.
Annoying! Although the home areas probably won’t even be sold out, Real definitely want to prevent visiting fans there.
Union Berlin did not want to comment on this when asked by BZ.
BZ answers the most important questions about the royal excitement
Why does the Madrid World Club act like this?
There should be no second Barcelona. At Camp Nou on April 14, 2022, around 25,000 Frankfurt fans created a home atmosphere in the quarter-final second leg of the Europa League. They had simply bought tickets for the home section. With the great support, they made a decisive contribution to the sensational 3-2 win and progress (first leg 1-1).
Does Real have the right to exclude German ticket buyers?
Yes, house rules apply regarding the separation of fans. The guest block is sold out. Real has refused to provide Union with further cards. The club therefore has no interest in Union fans getting tickets via Real channels.
Would Union behave the same way before the second leg (December 12th)?
Fan separation is also mandatory in the Olympic Stadium. There probably won’t be any free sales anyway. 40,000 season tickets have already been sold to Union members. The day tickets are likely to go away in the member raffle. This means that outsiders or Spaniards would have no opportunity to purchase a ticket.
What options do Union fans have without an official ticket for Madrid?
Technically, it is possible to conceal the computer IP address using so-called VPN services. But that alone is not enough. In addition, the means of payment must be non-German, such as a credit card from abroad. So anyone who gets a home ticket could disguise themselves as a Real fan, for example by not speaking German upon entry. If Union goals are scored, just silent celebration would certainly be helpful.
The easiest thing would be for friends or relatives from abroad to buy the tickets.