It comes as little surprise that Arsenal’s UEFA Champions League encounter with Paris Saint-Germain at the Emirates Stadium has generated some of the highest ticket demand in the stadium’s history. As is customary, supporters without season tickets have had to rely on the ballot system in the hope of securing access to the highly anticipated fixture.

The ballot system, introduced to replace the previous method of purchasing tickets through an online queuing process, has been subject to considerable scrutiny from fans since its inception. The change was implemented in an effort to combat ticket touting and the use of automated bots, which were acquiring tickets en masse for illegal resale.

According to football.london, hundreds of thousands of bot accounts have since been identified and disabled, and, in February 2024, the club announced that 16 lead memberships had been permanently terminated following a targeted operation.

For the PSG match, demand understandably reached extraordinary levels, even exceeding that witnessed for the visit of Real Madrid in the quarter-finals. Only 13% of silver membership applicants were successful in securing tickets for the PSG fixture, compared to 26% against Los Blancos.

The situation was even more challenging for red members, with a mere 3% success rate in the ballot for PSG, compared to 7% for the Madrid tie. For those unsuccessful, the Ticket Exchange offers a slim alternative; for the Real Madrid fixture, 748 tickets were successfully redistributed via this system — significantly lower than any other match this season, with the previous low being 2,853 against Liverpool. Based on the figures available, next week’s match could set a new record low.

Regrettably, the announcement that many would miss out has triggered a wave of unsavoury backlash online, with overseas fans once again targeted for criticism. Ironically, the ballot system has arguably made it more difficult for international supporters to commit to attending matches, given the uncertainty of the ballot outcome and the associated travel costs.

Similar accusations were made ahead of the Real Madrid fixture; yet, in spite of this, the atmosphere on the night was widely regarded as the best ever experienced at the Emirates Stadium. With even fewer red and silver members successful this time, there is every chance that the atmosphere will once again reach record-breaking levels.

In preparation for the occasion, the club have commissioned a never-before-seen Tifo to be displayed from the Emirates Stadium — a first in its history — alongside a crowd-surfing Tifo to enhance the spectacle.

Despite the frustrations surrounding ticket availability, the overarching objective remains to create a magical night in North London, uniting as many passionate Arsenal supporters as possible inside the ground. All that remains now is for the team’s performance on the pitch to match the extraordinary energy from the stands and beyond.