English press reveals new details on FC Porto ticket resale operation | OneFootball

Last Wednesday, The Guardian newspaper revealed new details about FC Porto's operation aimed at dismantling illegal ticket sales networks. Tourists were the most affected, paying up to 200 euros for each ticket.

The British daily highlighted a specific case: two Danish tourists paid 200 euros per ticket to watch the FC Porto-Vitória SC match. In other instances, the amounts reached up to 800 euros.

Regarding the Danish tourists, the newspaper described the transaction as follows:

«The pair had used online resale platforms to secure seats for the sold-out game. The gamble paid off – the tickets arrived in their Google Wallets – but something seemed off. One ticket had the name of a woman – a Porto member – and the other was a QR code from a season ticket. In theory, this code could have guaranteed entry to all home league games this season, as long as it was scanned first at the turnstile. “When we bought the tickets, we received a message telling us to delete the passes from our wallets after the game,” said the fan who had the season ticket».

Then, they recalled the most common explanation given by the club about the irregularities:

«These schemes have reached an impressive scale, with dozens of seats being controlled by a single individual. We also identified companies processing hundreds of transactions, serving as a front for this illegal activity. We also detected fake tickets being sold at inflated prices. Unfortunately, in these cases, there is little we can do besides advising fans not to buy from unofficial channels. The most common method of resale was through digital platforms. But we also detected groups on social networks, WhatsApp, and other more informal and discreet channels. FC Porto is closely monitoring the evolution of these shady transactions and their participants».

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.