Panic As UK Politician Urges Government to Stop Fans From Travelling to Watch Champions League Final

Panic As UK Politician Urges Government to Stop Fans From Travelling to Watch Champions League Final

Oluwatomiwa Babalola
updated at April 12, 2023 at 7:47 PM

- British parliament member, Clive Efford, wants the UK government to ban fans from travelling to Turkey

- The supporters are hoping to watch Man City and whoever qualifies in the Champions League final later this month

- Efford insisted that the high rate of COVID-19 in the European country could scatter their plans to battle the virus

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Labour Party Member of Parliament, Clive Efford, is calling on the government to deny travel access to football fans hoping to flood Turkey for the Champions League final billed for May 29.

Manchester City have already booked their spot and are awaiting the winner between Chelsea and Real Madrid in the second leg.

Sources reveal that UEFA is planning to hand the finalists 8,000 tickets while the hosts are preparing for not less than 25,000 supporters at the stadium - that is one-third of the venue capacity.

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However, the scary rate in the increase of coronavirus cases in the European country has sent shivers into the spine of the British politician who wants the government to stop all movement to Turkey.

Thousands of English football fans ready to flood to Istanbul for the Champions League final
Clive Efford giving a remark for StreetGames Football Pools Fives at the House of Commons, London. Photo by Adam Davy/PA Images
Source: Getty Images

The 62-year-old also proposed to the European football body to stage the final at the Wembley Stadium should it be between two English clubs but that has not received any attention just yet.

According to Daily Mail, health experts and the MP believe allowing English fans to travel to Turkey for the game will destabilise Britain's COVID-19 plans.

The publication further reveals that the participating clubs may be given permission to sell even more tickets than their allocation if they organise the travel via official packages.

However, the UK government is expected to make pronouncements as regards their travel restrictions and it will determine if fans would have to quarantine on their return or not.

Turkey are on full lockdown having experienced an increase in the number of cases they are recording with a peak of 60,000 cases and 300 deaths a day in April while the rates of infection remain thirteen times higher than in the UK but they are hoping to relax the lockdown by May 17.

Clive Efford, MP for Eltham who is also is a qualified FA coach and life-long Millwall fan was quoted saying:

"To allow English fans to travel to and from Turkey would make a mockery of all the measures we have taken over recent months during the lockdown.
"It is a risk not worth taking at this stage, particularly because we are concerned about new variants emerging and whether vaccines are effective against them. And if it is two English clubs in the final it makes sense to move it from Istanbul."

Legit.ng earlier reported that barely two weeks after his sack, Jose Mourinho has been appointed as the new manager of Italian League side AS Roma from the 2021-22 season.

The 58-year-old Portuguese manager will be in charge of the Serie A club until the summer of 2024 after succeeding Paulo Fonseca.

Tottenham fired the two-time Champions League winner owing to a poor run of results but the 'Special One' has been handed a clean slate by his new employers.

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Oluwatomiwa Babalola
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