Chelsea Supporters Group and Chelsea Supporters Club together appreciate the time and effort all stakeholders have taken to produce the 2025-26 club ticketing policy and prices. It is an important piece of work that directly affects the support the team gets on the pitch and we acknowledge the difficulties that are often involved in agreeing on a direction that suits everyone.
However, we are disappointed with some aspects of the policy and the way in which it has been announced. Primarily, in publishing that “the cost of single match general admission (GA) tickets will be increase by four percent this year, with a three percent reduction in the season ticket holder discount across each stand versus the cost of purchasing each match individually.”, it implies an overall 7% increase in season ticket prices on average. This headline statistic appears intentionally misleading.
Furthermore, however, that 7% figure is not representative of the actual rises to season ticket prices. When making a direct comparison to 2024-25 prices, every adult season ticket price has risen by more than 8% with the exception of East Upper tickets, which rise by 6.9%. Senior prices have risen by 10.6% on average, with both Matthew Harding Lower and Shed Lower at a low of 7.32%, while fans in the East Stand face an almost 15% increase in cost. Members have additionally once again been left to carry the can at an even greater markup.
We recognise the need for the club to continue to drive positive revenues while playing at Stamford Bridge. However, none of the above rises are noted in the announcement and it has been left to supporters’ groups and individual fans to work out their own cost of renewing, often in a state of confusion versus the wording in the official release. Communication is of paramount importance and the mark has been missed here.
There are also important details in the full ticketing policy document that does not appear in the release. These include but are not limited to:
– Away Match Tickets being non-transferrable with random checks taking place to ensure transfers do not take place.
– Away Match Ticket allocation being split 70/30 between Season Ticket Holders and Members (previously 60/40) after a 20% reduction for hospitality.
– The return of a (£1) booking fee for all (GA) Match Tickets sales via the online ticketing platform. That this is reinstated upon the advent of a new partnership with Ticketmaster cannot be a coincidence.
– A rise in the Concession age from 65 to 66 as of July 31st 2025.
– The Match Ticket Exchange no longer facilitating supporters to sell their ticket for its face value price, instead receiving online credit which can be used for future ticket purchases.
We appreciate the renewed flexibility offered to younger supporters, both in the increase in age at which Youth and Junior is now defined by and the reduction in prices to allow the next generation of Chelsea supporters greater access to match attendance, and we are also keen to see the reasoning for the new Membership policies yet to be announced.
Finally, the co-Chairs of the Fan Advisory Board (FAB) are quoted in saying that “The club has listened to our recommendations”. The FAB was created to “to ensure fans’ perspectives are heard at the highest levels of the club” and, considering the widespread concern among supporters and directly within supporters’ groups in the wake of this announcement, urgent dialogue is required in order to establish why those recommendations have led to those concerns.
We look forward to continued fruitful discussions with all parties.