May 24, 2021 3.32 pm This story is over 35 months old

Petition calls for more Lincoln fans to be allowed for Wembley final

There were over 20k fans at the FA Cup final two weeks ago
The Imps will be hoping for more of this at Wembley. | Photo: Sharon Keeton
By Local Democracy Reporter

Fans have been voicing their concerns as just 4,000 tickets have been issued to EFL play-off finalists, including Lincoln City, for their upcoming trips to Wembley.

Lincoln City will be playing Blackpool in the League One play-off final on Sunday, May 30, one of three EFL play-off finals to be played that weekend at Wembley Stadium.

The club have been allocated just 3,879 tickets for the 90,000 seater stadium due to COVID-19 restrictions, despite the FA Cup final between Chelsea and Leicester on May 15 hosting over 20,000 fans in the ground.

The reason for this is the government used the FA Cup final as a trial event to see how coronavirus transmission could be handled at large scale events.

The EFL play-offs are not considered a test event, so will be tied to legislation that means only up to 10,000 people can be inside the ground.

The 10,000 tickets have been distributed evenly at 4,000 each between Lincoln and Blackpool fans, as well as Brentford and Swansea in the Championship and Morecambe and Newport County in League Two, with the remaining 2,000 going to sponsors and delegates.

Season ticket holders will enter a ballot for tickets, though many are expected to miss out given the high demand.

A petition has been set up calling for the government to recognise the EFL play-offs as “some of the most important games in domestic football” and designate the fixtures as test events.

This would allow for more fans to go to Wembley and watch their team play, and the petition urges government to make this happen for lower league fans.

“Money aside, these are incredible important events for those involved, and as we have seen from the fallout from the European Super League, football needs fans.

“We call on the government and the FA to allow the EFL play-off finals to be designated as test events with the same number of spectators as at the FA Cup final, reflecting their importance within our game.”

So far at the time of publication, over 3,000 people have signed the petition, with support spanning across the EFL’s three divisions.