Euro 2020 tickets cancelled as UEFA apologise for selling tickets to fans before withdrawing them hours later Supporters who missed out last year thought they had got lucky in the second phase, only to be told the tickets had been sold in error

UEFA have been forced to apologise to hundreds of fans after selling off Euro 2020 tickets that should not have been on sale at all and cancelling them after payments had been made.

Supporters who had missed out on tickets during the first lottery phase received an email yesterday promising tickets on a “first come, first served” basis.

i understands this was to sell tickets that had been returned from the initial phase due to supporters who had failed to pay on time for their allocation.

But many of the fans who were successfully in Wednesday’s second tranche were then handed more disappointment hours later, when UEFA began to issue cancellation notices of tickets.

“Due to a technical error, for a short period of time, a small number of tickets which were not for sale, were made available for purchase,” a UEFA spokesperson told i.

“This error was quickly identified and those fans who had inadvertently purchased tickets received a cancellation email and no charge was made to their credit cards.”

However, i understands many fans did see the charge on their accounts before the money was later refunded.

“UEFA would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused,” they added.

Many fans had already booked travel and accommodation for the games, as they were urged to by the emails sent by UEFA, which featured links to official partner websites such as Booking.com encouraging ticket-holders to “book now”.

One fan, who asked to remain anonymous, told i he had spent more than £350 on two hotel rooms as well as £428 on tickets before sharing the good news with his father – only to be let down a few hours later.

“I was hoping this [cancellation] was some kind of mistake,” he said.

“My dad has been waiting 63 years to go see England at a large tournament. I surprised him last night, shown him the invoice and confirmation of tickets and he started to well up!

“Now I’m working out how to go and tell him today that UEFA have cancelled them through no fault of our own. This will break his heart.”

Alex Ridgway, an account director from London, juggled meetings at work so he could spend two hours in a queue waiting to purchase tickets online, finding only Category 1 seats available and shelling out £310 for two tickets to watch England on 19 June.

“I had two hours of anticipation waiting to buy them – then I went off to play football as I always do on a Wednesday, excitedly telling everyone I’d bagged some tickets,” Alex told i.

“I’d even booked a half-day off work already – so I was gutted when I got the email saying they were cancelled.”

The game has extra intrigue for England fans as it could see them pitted against Scotland, should the “Auld Enemy” make it through the play-offs to Euro 2020.

Dan Laker, based in Larbert near Falkirk, had already spent £178 on flights and accommodation when he received the cancellation email.

“[UEFA] will hide behind T&Cs and wont take any accountability,” Dan said.

“I’m a working class season ticket holder at Spurs and travel to and from Scotland for every home game and all around Europe.

“The fans get treated like s**t these days. It’s sad really. I’m starting to hate the greed in modern football.”

Bradford fan Brian Gallagher was also expecting to be at Wembley on 19 June.

“It was a story of three emails, one saying there were tickets available, one a confirmation of purchase and one a cancellation of tickets,” Brian told i, with more than four hours passing between the second and third messages.

UEFA have urged all fans affected to contact the customer services department with details of their experience.