Barcelona tighten ticket controls ahead of Feyenoord Champions League match

Barcelona will introduce a special security protocol for their Champions League meeting with Feyenoord at Spotify Camp Nou next Wednesday, with measures designed to prevent visiting supporters from entering areas reserved for home fans.

The fixture has been classified as high risk, prompting the club to impose stricter controls on ticket sales and access to the stadium. Barcelona used similar measures for their matches against Eintracht Frankfurt and Newcastle last season.

Under the protocol, tickets will be registered in the name of the holder and cannot be transferred. During the sales period, tickets will be available only to Barcelona members, with the club set to publish an explanatory notice on its website.

Supporters wearing Feyenoord shirts or displaying the club’s colours and symbols will be permitted only in the section allocated to the visiting fans and in the designated away supporters’ seating area. Entrance L will be reserved exclusively for Feyenoord supporters.

Everyone attending the match will have to show an official identity document alongside their ticket when entering Spotify Camp Nou, or whenever requested to do so by security staff. No tickets will be sold at the stadium’s ticket office, while the allocation available to tour operators will be restricted.

Barcelona will also increase the number of security personnel at the stadium entrances and inside the stands. Security staff will carry out searches and check the identities of spectators wearing Feyenoord clothing or displaying the club’s symbols.

Anyone who breaches the regulations or causes disorder may be removed from the stadium. Barcelona will work with Feyenoord, Barcelona’s local police and the police force in Catalonia to prevent groups of Feyenoord supporters gathering outside the areas assigned to them.

The same coordination will be used to limit ticket touting and other forms of black-market resale. Barcelona will monitor ticket sales on a daily basis, looking for patterns that could point to fraudulent activity or attempts to bypass the arrangements separating the two sets of supporters.

For Barcelona members, tickets registered for this match will not be transferable and the name on them cannot be changed. Buyers will also have to give explicit consent that they will not sell or pass their ticket to Feyenoord supporters.

Any newly issued tickets will be sold once at face value. They must be registered in the holder’s name no later than 24 hours before kick-off, after which no further name change will be allowed.

The club said that any purchase found, through tracking, to involve fraudulent activity or to have resulted in a ticket reaching someone who violates the regulations will be referred to its disciplinary committee. The committee will then decide what action should be taken against those responsible.

The controls will be in place for Barcelona’s opening Champions League fixture of the campaign, with the club seeking to maintain a clear separation between home and away supporters inside and around Spotify Camp Nou.