
Schiphol chaos: 200 Ajax fans could miss Champions League match in Liverpool
Approximately 200 Ajax supporters with a ticket for the Tuesday evening Champions League match against Liverpool could miss out on the game because they were unable to collect their ticket and prove their identity on time. The problems at Schiphol Airport this week caused difficulty for hundreds of people who wanted to travel to see the away match at Anfield stadium.
Fans of the Amsterdam club needed to pick up their ticket about a mile away at Goodison Park, home to Everton. The Ajax ticket holders had until 4:30 p.m. to accomplish this. Ajax received word about the extensive difficulties supporters had trying to reach Liverpool due to the crowds at Schiphol.
The club was offering its supporters assistance, with the relevant department still in touch with fans who were still trying to get to Anfield before kick-off. An Ajax spokesperson could not say how many fans still hoped to arrive at the Liverpool stadium before 9 p.m.
Ajax sold all 2,600 available tickets for the away section at Anfield. Meanwhile, 2,400 supporters collected their tickets in time in Liverpool. About 300 guests of the team and its sponsors will also watch the second Champions League group match elsewhere in the famous stadium.
Occasionally, handfuls of Ajax supporters are unable to collect their ticket for a match abroad. But it seems clear that the problems at Schiphol were a primary cause that 200 fans were in danger of missing a popular match like Tuesday’s against Liverpool.
An unknown number of Ajax supporters missed flights to Liverpool or Manchester on Monday and Tuesday due to t crowds at the largest airport in the Netherlands. Many of them tried to reach Liverpool using alternative means.
Some traveled by car or boat, or flew to the north of England via other airports, such as Ibiza, Mallorca, Oslo, Milan and Düsseldorf. Some fans said they had to change planes as many as three times to attend the match.
Reporting by ANP