Viagogo apologises after tickets for England football game sold illegally

Ticket selling website Viagogo apologised after tickets to an England football game were “mistakenly” offered for sale.

Reselling football tickets is illegal in the UK, but The Guardian reported the site was advertising about 100 seats at Wembley for England’s June 7 friendly against Iceland.

The Football Association confirmed it had not authorised the firm to resell tickets for the match which comes ahead of the Euro 2024 tournament.

A spokesperson for the firm told the newspaper: “A human error led to this event listing being mistakenly created and it was removed as soon as we were made aware.

“We extend our sincere apologies to those fans who bought tickets, and we are in the process of providing them with a full refund as well as a 100% voucher.

“Unauthorised listings are strictly prohibited on our marketplace and we’ve reviewed our processes to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”

Reselling tickets for football games without permission from either clubs or the sport’s governing bodies has been illegal in England and Walessince 1994 after it was recommended by the Taylor report which was commissioned to look into crowd safety following the Hillsborough disaster.

The FA indicated anyone found to have bought tickets through Viagogo could have been denied entry at the turnstile.

“We strongly advise against anyone purchasing tickets on the secondary market,” said an FA spokesperson.

“We also make every effort to trace tickets that are listed for sale on unofficial channels and, where possible, will cancel these tickets.”