Liverpool FC has cancelled the tickets to the upcoming UEFA Champions League final of more than a dozen supporters and threatened them with the potential of a lifetime ban from the club over their having listed tickets to the game in Paris for resale.

The move comes in the wake of widespread criticism of the ticket allocation for the UEFA Champions League final, which will see Liverpool take on Real Madrid on Saturday at Stade de France in Paris. Each club was allocated around 20,000 tickets to distribute, leaving approximately 35,000 held back for UEFA to hand out to sponsors and other VIPs, distribute to other ticket sales channels, or any other use at its discretion. From each team’s allocation are likely thousands more passed out to team insiders, sponsors, or other friends, meaning the actual number available to supporters for purchase on the primary market is likely far below the 20,000 each club is reportedly given.

In threatening its own fans for listing tickets for resale, Liverpool minced no words about it being the only place from which “official” tickets could be purchased. The club says it would “not stand idly by and watch people try to sell tickets they have been fortunate enough to get access to via the ballot,” according to a report by the BBC. The club also claimed that it has pushed social media companies to close accounts it identified as being involved in selling tickets for the final.

ticketflipping provides valuable tools for ticket resale professionals

“There has unfortunately been an increase in the number of fans being defrauded, online in particular, by fake match ticket offers,” the Liverpool source told the BBC. “If any supporter is offered a ticket online, they should report it to Liverpool Football Club and to Action Fraud.”

Whatever small number of tickets were actually available to club supporters or those who were able to purchase directly through UEFA via a separate lottery were officially priced at €70, €180, €490, and €690, depending on the stadium location desired. But many tickets were offered through “hospitality” packages run by UEFA, which flogged tickets for as much as €8,900 per person ($9,487).

With its aggressive campaign against ticket resale for the championship match, UEFA has effectively forced consumers looking to head to Paris for the match to the black market, as mainstream marketplaces, where consumers willing to pay the market price for such a limited access with high demand event have protections against fraud, have stayed away.

UEFA Champions League Finals Ticket Links

UEFA Tickets and Hospitality Portal
UEFA tickets at Ticketmaster
UEFA tickets at SeatGeek
UEFA tickets at StubHub
UEFA tickets at Ticket Club | Free Membership Offer for Ticket Club Readers
UEFA tickets at TicketNetwork
UEFA tickets at TicketSmarter
UEFA tickets at Vivid Seats

vegas.com advertisement