Inter Milan and Manchester City may start the countdown until they meet in the Champions League final in the Turkish city of Istanbul on Saturday, June 10.
Inter will be looking to win a fourth Champions League title, after beating neighbours and Serie A rivals AC Milan in the semi-finals 3-0 on aggregate.
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City dismantled Real Madrid at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday, beating last season’s winners 4-0 overnight to win 5-1 on aggregate, and will eventually play in the Champions League final in 3 seasons.
UEFA’s latest flagship club festival will be held at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium and a stampede for suitable tickets is about to begin. But how many will there be and how much will it cost Turkey’s largest city from Manchester and Milan?
Athletic breaks down what you want to know about tickets and for the 2022-23 Champions League final. . .
The Atatürk Olympic Stadium has a capacity of more than 75,000 seats but UEFA, the governing body of European football and guilty of organizing the Champions League final, says 72,000 tickets will be distributed.
These, however, will not only be shared between finalists Manchester City and Inter Milan, meaning thousands of fans of either club will miss out on the chance to see their potential European champions in person. As is the case with the finals, tickets will be shared between clubs, the general public and advertising partners.
The two competing groups get 20,000 tickets and then it is up to them to organize a sales process.
Neither club has yet revealed how they plan to distribute their stipend, with just over 3 weeks until the final is due, expect the main points to emerge in the coming days.
With Inter and City taking 40,000 of the tickets between them, that leaves the 32,000 uncounted.
UEFA held a public vote on 7,500 of the tickets. The remaining 24,500 are reserved for local organisers, UEFA, national football associations, advertising partners and broadcasters.
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This corporate gratification is higher than that received by either of the two finalists and underlines the importance UEFA attaches to the satisfaction of its many sponsors, which is to the detriment of fans who see their team play in the Champions League final.
UEFA, according to its website, has divided general sale tickets into 4 categories.
Category 1 seats, the cheapest on offer, will cost €70 (£61; $76), but then a significant jump to Category 2, priced at €180 (£156; $195). The next ticket point, category three, prices €490 (£425; $530), while category 4 seats would cost you €690 (£599; $747) each. Tickets for disabled spectators cost €70 (£61; $75) and come with another significant single ticket.
If fans do not get tickets through general sale, it is guaranteed that there will be a secondary market. Tickets there, however, will almost charge far more than their face value, with charges most likely in the thousands given the enormity of the game.
As it stands, the cheapest direct return flight from Manchester to Istanbul, departing Friday, June 9 and returning Sunday, June 11, costs £1,142 (€1,316; $1,424). Alternatively, a flight taking you to the Turkish city of Antalya, before a connecting flight to Istanbul is recently priced at £42 nine (€494; $535), but you won’t arrive at your scheduled destination until the early hours of the working day.
There is a direct flight from Manchester on June 10, return on June 11, which costs £863 (€994; $1,076). It is scheduled to land in Istanbul at 4:50 p. m. local time, five hours before kick-off, leaving enough room for the 30-minute adventure from the airport to the stadium.
For Milan enthusiasts in northern Italy, there is a direct flight from Malpensa Airport on June 9, returning on June 11, which costs £903 (€1,040; $1,126).
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There’s a less expensive option, but the one-way flight stops in Athens, Greece, before landing in Istanbul and takes 19 hours, meaning you won’t arrive in Turkey until 3:00 p. m. M. (local time) on June 10. The return of this guy leaves on Sunday. in the evening, it stops in Serbia on the way and lands in Milan after 20:00 local time on Monday, June 12, and takes just under 24 hours. This option costs £316 (€364; $394).
The cheapest direct return flight on the day of the final, but only with a return on June 11, costs £877 (€1,010; $1,093). It is scheduled to land at 18:55 local time, so it would take just over 3 hours to triumph in the stadium.
The direct flight time from Manchester is 4 hours, and it is one hour less from Milan.
Hotel costs, if you’re planning to stay June 9-11, in Istanbul for the last weekend lately, diversity ranges from £28 (€32; $35) for two nights in a hostel to over £34,000 (€39,170; $42,390) for five-star hotel.
With hotels increasing their costs when a big occasion looms in the city, especially a Champions League final, there are plenty of moderate options. But as each and every tour operator, whether an airline or a hotel company, will tell you: they are a subject to change.
It should also be noted that the Atatürk Olympic Stadium is about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from downtown Istanbul.
(Main photos: Getty Images)