Arsenal have had to find different ways to win this season as they pursue a Premier League and Champions League double. Their fans will now have to show similar dexterity if they hope to make it to Budapest for Uefa’s showpiece final.
With direct flights from London costing up to £1,500 and the only available hotel rooms about 20 miles from the Hungarian capital, it could be the most expensive Champions League final to attend in history. But with a bit of luck and logistical flexibility (and the ability to stay awake all night), Gunners supporters can still hope to match Declan Rice’s demand that 200,000 descend upon the Danube at the end of this month.
On Wednesday Wizz Air, which is headquartered in Hungary, said it would seek to cater for some of the extra demand by doubling the number of flights from London to Budapest on Friday 29 May to eight and running six flights on the Saturday.
“Generally, Budapest itself is a write-off by air, but it’s possible to get closer and finish off by train,” says Tom Hall, who has the double qualification of being a travel expert at Lonely Planet and an Arsenal season-ticket holder. “Some fans near me have booked to Bratislava and Vienna, while I saw sub-£200 direct returns to Bucharest, a mere 15-hour bus or train journey away.”
There is also a bus that goes from London to Budapest and return tickets are available at less than £300, the only complication being that the journey is 48 hours and would require spending Friday night in Nuremberg.
After transport there is the question of tickets, with Arsenal saying they have been given an allocation by Uefa of 16,824, which amounts to about 27% of Uefa’s stated 61,400 capacity for the Puskas Arena. They will be distributed via a ballot which prioritises season-ticket holders, prices starting at €70 (£60) for “fan first” tickets but scaling up to €950 for category 1 and €760 for category 1 with a restricted view. Uefa does not allow the resale of match tickets through secondary platforms and warns that anyone making such a purchase could risk having their tickets cancelled, but that hasn’t stopped tickets being listed, at prices starting from just under £4,000.
Uefa pledged earlier in the season that a majority of tickets at the Puskas Arena – 39,000 – would be sold to competing clubs’ fans and the general public. The rest are customarily shared between Uefa officials and member associations, competition sponsors and their guests.
Once the getting there and getting in the ground parts are sorted, there is what Hall calls the “hotel hurdle”, with little in the way of accommodation still available in Budapest and what there is costing a fortune. “There are a few sleeper train options to and from Bucharest that could get you over the hurdle,” Hall says. “Honestly, I have no [other] way around that. But noting the game is on Saturday evening local time, staying up until the small hours on the Sunday is not out of the question.”
A sleepless night could be a common solution, but there is one final complication to add. Reports on Wednesday suggested that, should Arsenal win either or both of their two targeted titles, a trophy parade in north London would take place on 31 May, the day after the Budapest final.
Arsenal say nothing is confirmed yet, but while staying up all night is one thing, finding a place on a plane that could get you back to London by the following lunchtime is definitely another.