Carabao Cup Final 2021: Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur given 2,000 tickets for fans

Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur will have their own fans inside Wembley for the Carabao Cup Final next weekend, it has been revealed.

The two clubs will play for a total of 8,000 spectators at Wembley Stadium.

The clubs and the EFL published details of ticketing arrangements and Covid-19 protocols on Tuesday morning for the match on April 25, which will be the first outdoor pilot event to welcome in supporters of the teams involved.

How many tickets have been given to each club?

Both clubs have been allocated 2,000 tickets, with 1,750 of City’s to be distributed to eligible supporters in and around Greater Manchester. For these supporters there will be 750 standard and first-class train tickets available, 750 coach spaces and 250 car parking spaces at Wembley.

The remaining 250 tickets will be distributed to qualifying City fans based in London or the Home Counties, the club said.

The FA Cup semi-final between Leicester and Southampton this Sunday will welcome in 4,000 spectators but these will be a mixture of local residents and NHS staff from the area around Wembley.

It is expected that a similar system of testing will be implemented for that match.

There will be 8,000 people permitted to attend the Carabao Cup final – the 4,000 club supporters plus a further 4,000 local residents and NHS staff.

How much will tickets cost?

Tickets will be in two price categories for both clubs – £50 and £40.

Will fans have to take a Covid test?

Yes. Manchester City and Tottenham supporters wishing to attend this month’s Carabao Cup final must undergo a combination of PCR and lateral flow coronavirus testing.

Fans must order a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test to take at home as close as possible to the match, and take a further PCR test five days afterwards.

They must also book a lateral flow test at a local site in order to have proof of a negative test within 24 hours of the match.

This proof – either on a text message or email – must be presented at Wembley to gain entry and City supporters must also show that proof if travelling down from Manchester on the specially-chartered trains and coaches.

The success of these pilot events – plus others including the World Snooker Championship, the FA Cup final and England’s group games at Euro 2020 – will be key steps along the road to allowing supporters back into venues in financially-viable numbers from June 21 onwards.

A group of 10 sports governing bodies last week gave their backing to the use of a Covid certification system as a means to removing social distancing restrictions at venues.

Such a system has been challenged by cross-party MPs as an infringement on an individual’s civil liberties.

Can anyone get a ticket?

Under-18s and those who are clinically extremely vulnerable, living with someone who is clinically extremely vulnerable, or pregnant, should not attend, under the terms of the Events Research Programme which is administering the pilot events.

SpursAbility, Tottenham’s disabled supporters’ club, said in a statement that it was “extremely disappointed” at the decision to bar clinically extremely vulnerable fans from attending the final.

“A number of our members and supporters will fall into this classification under recent Covid-19 guidance and have also endured long shielding periods,” the statement said.

“However, most of them will have had their first and second vaccinations and are at considerably lower risk than those who are yet to be vaccinated.

“Government guidance places those aged 70 or over at an equal or higher risk category yet there is no exclusion issue for anyone in these higher risk groups.

“The policy adopted for this match is a direct discrimination toward many disabled supporters including those with access requirements based on a direction with no scientific evidence to back up this approach and there is no longer a Government requirement to shield.”