The Champions League final between Chelsea and Manchester United, which will be held at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on May 21, could prove to be the costliest ticket of many fans’ lives, after the Russian Foreign Ministry said that visitors from the UK would indeed need to obtain a visa in order to attend the match. However, the ruling contradicted an earlier statement made by Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov, in which he suggested that normal visa restrictions would be waived for the ticket holders.
Naturally, this threw the matter into confusion, as Luzhkov’s statement had been interpreted by United supporters to mean that fans on an organized trip would be exempted from needing a visa. UEFA, soccer’s European governing body, had also told BBC News that its president, Michel Platini, was working on “a major breakthrough” with the Russian government to remedy the confusing visa situation.
Meanwhile, Moscow has become one of if not the most expensive cities in the world. Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune notes that hotel costs had surged beyond the means of the average fan ($800 for “budget accommodations”), while ticket agencies in the U.S. were quoting prices of upwards of $10,000 each. Add to that around $1,800 for a flight to Moscow and $187 for the visa stamp, and this becomes a costly trip, indeed.