Sponsors forced to send back Europa League final tickets

Arsenal and Chelsea fans have been left ‘heartbroken’ at being unable to travel to Baku to watch their favourite teams’ performance in the Europa League final. Ever since the two London clubs qualified for the showpiece final – hosted in Azerbaijan’s capital on May 29 – concerns have been raised over the suitability of the venue. Now the situation is even more serious as reports claim that, sponsors are forced to send back Europa League final tickets which is a major blow to UEFA as the final is going to take place with thousands of empty seats in Baku’s Olympic Stadium. The difficulty and cost of travelling to the capital of Azerbaijan mean that some companies are struggling to give the tickets away. Arsenal and Chelsea are planning to return a total of over 6.000 tickets – more than half their initial allocations – as they have only sold 3.500 and 2.000 respectively. Arsenal midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan is also forced to miss the final because of his nationality. Diplomatic tensions between Mkhitaryan’s native Armenia and Azerbaijan, the host nation for the final, exist because of a longstanding conflict over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh territory. It even more angered Arsenal fans with many of them have decided not the travel to Azerbaijan.

Arsenal’s Henrikh Mkhitaryan ‘FORCED’ to miss Chelsea final in Baku