Overview
- Hoffenheim published a special price list that charges up to €90 for seats in blocks adjacent to Schalke’s allocated away section while charging much lower amounts for the same blocks in other recent home matches.
- Schalke’s fankultur director Sebastian Buntkirchen publicly condemned the pricing as opportunistic and said the club has formally registered its objection with Hoffenheim.
- Only about 3,000 tickets were allocated to Schalke but thousands more fans are expected to travel, creating strong demand that will likely push many supporters to buy seats in nearby blocks at the higher prices.
- TSG Hoffenheim defended the policy as an established practice for high-demand or ‘top’ matches and said the expensive seats make up only a small share of arena capacity; the club applied the same approach when Hamburger SV brought a large away contingent in October.
- The dispute raises wider questions about match-specific price discrimination, transparency in ticketing and whether hosts will expand away allocations or change prices before the game, which supporters and clubs will watch in the run-up to the fixture.