The Fan Advisory Board asks us… what is the club doing about ticket touting?
From the official Chelsea FC website:
In recent meetings with the club’s Fan Advisory Board (FAB), fan representatives posed a series of questions they are commonly asked by other supporters. Over the next few weeks, we continue to answer those questions in a new series…
The second edition of ‘The FAB asks the club…’ deals with ticket touting (or scalping as it is known in some countries) – what does the club do to monitor the misuse of tickets for both home and away games?
Areas dealt with include:
- What sanctions does Chelsea impose on a season ticket holder or member who is found to have sold their ticket on the secondary ticket market or to a ticket tout?
- How does the club deal with tickets appearing on third-party sites so soon after they go on sale to members?
- How many season ticket holders/members have had their memberships revoked due to selling on?
- The way information on this matter can be shared with the club via toutinfo@chelseafc.com
Here are answers…
Regarding matchday tickets becoming available online via third-party resellers or being sold by people outside of the stadium, under England & Wales law – The Criminal Justice & Public Order Act 1994 – it is illegal to sell, or to offer to sell, tickets to Chelsea Football Club matches without the authorisation of the club.
Chelsea FC is committed to tackling ticket touting, for both home and away matches. We identify individuals who fraudulently harvest tickets/memberships to sell at vastly inflated prices, investigate both online and offline illegal ticket sales, and use a range of tactics and enforcement measures that help to combat ticket touting.
The work the club does to stop individuals selling tickets for profit includes:
- Investigating the club membership base, banning suspicious memberships and preventing them from purchasing tickets which we believe will be sold via online ticket reselling websites. The club bans thousands of memberships each season.
- Running checks on matchdays, which often result in those with resold tickets being refused entry. Checks have been ongoing during the 2023/24 season, leading to some ticket holders being ejected from games.
- Working with the police to identify and arrest touts outside Stamford Bridge on a matchday. Across three games in November and December, 12 arrests were made.
Supporters found to be selling their ticket for more than face value will be subject to a club investigation and sanctions, including the removal of season tickets, memberships and access to the away match ticket scheme.
This unfortunately occurs more often than you would expect, and the club has been forced to ban many members and season ticket holders. In some cases, the matter will be reported to the Police for criminal prosecution.
As is the case for many Premier League clubs, there are sophisticated criminal operations targeting Chelsea, making vast profits via secondary ticket platforms. Many of the websites that advertise and sell tickets online are not within the jurisdiction of UK law. This means, while we report these sites when we see Chelsea tickets on them, there is little we can do to shut down the sites, or help supporters who are denied entry to our stadium because they have purchased a re-sold or counterfeit ticket from one of these websites.
Buying tickets from unofficial outlets runs a very high risk of paying heavily inflated prices, receiving counterfeit or duplicated tickets, and ultimately being denied access to the match.
The only place to purchase general admission tickets is via official Chelsea FC channels, including the club website and ticket exchange. Ticket holders can only transfer a ticket to a friend or family member for no more than face value.
Club Chelsea hospitality packages can be purchased from Chelseafc.com or authorised resellers, a list of which can be found here
If you have been offered tickets or have any information in relation to tickets being offered outside of authorised channels, please report this to the club via toutinfo@chelseafc.com
All information is treated in the strictest confidence and is never disclosed to third parties.
‘Chelsea Supporters Group’ can also be found on X and Facebook
