“A soccer game is not an opera performance,” say active Munich fans. A call for a boycott of FC Bayern’s away game against Shakhtar Donetsk is now having an effect. Tickets are available at a reduced price.

After the ticket controversy surrounding FC Bayern Munich’s Champions League match against Shakhtar Donetsk, tickets are now significantly cheaper.

Bayern fans were originally supposed to pay €105 for a seat and €52 for standing room for the Champions League match on December 10 at Schalke’s Veltins Arena. According to the German record champions, the Ukrainian top club has now “revised” the ticket prices after consultation with FC Bayern. A standing ticket in the Bayern block now costs only 26 euros, and a seat 45 euros.

The Ukrainian club has “adjusted the ticket prices in the guest sector for our away game to the price level permitted under ticket regulations,” wrote Südkurve München to the European Football Union UEFA. Therefore, “all active groups” will now attend the game against Donetsk after all.

“The change in ticket prices is intended to give all fans – including those who had already canceled their ticket requests – the opportunity to submit a new request,” FC Bayern announced.

This was preceded by a wave of cancellations by Munich fans. In the previous week, the number of ticket requests had plummeted from 55,000 to just 19,000. However, FC Bayern has no influence on the pricing policy of Shakhtar, which is playing its matches in Gelsenkirchen due to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.

The active Bayern fan scene had even called for a boycott. Bayern ultras fought back with a call titled “Boycott the away game in Donetsk!” It stated: “Large sections of the active Südkurve will not attend the away game against Shakhtar Donetsk due to the pricing circumstances.”

The reason: “The dynamic pricing system, combined with a high base price for tickets to our game, results in a disproportionate increase in price compared to Shakhtar Donetsk’s other home games in the European Cup.”

By way of comparison, Atalanta Bergamo fans paid from €23 for a standing ticket, while Bayern fans had to fork out a whopping €52. The situation is no different for seats: Bayern fans have to pay €105 for a ticket in the visitors’ stand, while Atalanta Bergamo fans got tickets from €28.

Incidentally, 21,636 fans attended the Shakhtar games against Atalanta Bergamo (0-3) and 17,420 against Young Boys Bern (2-1) at Schalke.