Thursday 15 October 2015 11:47, UK
Bayern Munich supporters are planning to boycott the first five minutes of their Champions League game at Arsenal next week over "excessive and impossible" ticket prices around Europe.
The group - named on social media as FC Bayern Worldwide (FCBWW) - have confirmed that the cheapest ticket price for their Group F match on October 20 is £64, with additional fees and postal charges taking the overall price to over £70.
FCBWW say these prices "make a stadium visit impossible for younger and socially disadvantaged fans" and "destroys fan culture, which is the basis of football".
Via a statement on Facebook, the group said: "The first five minutes of the game in London will be what future football will look like if this madness continues; empty seats in the stands and no singing or emotion.
"In the following 85 minutes we want to show the alternative and show how fundamentally important a lively fan culture is for football. But our action in London is not only directed at ticket prices for a single game."
The cheapest ticket at Bayern's Allianz Arena is €30 (£22), but their fans are regularly forced to pay far more at away games in Europe.
The statement added: "Over the course of a season, it adds up to a large sum, especially for younger fans. At Olympiacos, Bayern fans had to pay €50 [£37] for away tickets, in Zagreb it will be around €40 [£29]. In comparison with the prices at Arsenal, this may seem reasonable, but during a qualification game against lesser opposition, the prices in Zagreb were only a tenth of that.
"We express our support for campaigns like '20's Plenty' from England and 'Kein Zwanni' in Germany. Especially the developments in English football should be a sobering example."
