Internet sites cash in with £900 tickets for Fulham final

Fulham fans were today being charged up to £900 for tickets to the Europa League Final - 18 times their face value.

Internet ticket agencies are cashing in on the biggest match in Fulham's history after the club's distribution policy saw it sell its seat allocation in under four hours.

Official tickets for Fulham's first European final - against Atletico Madrid at the Nordbank Arena in Hamburg - cost between £50 and £135.

But Madrid-based agency 1st4footballtickets.com is offering tickets for the May 12 final at up to £926.22 each - £900.25 plus £25.97 for postage. Agency ticket4football.com is charging even more at £1,287.16 a ticket for "VIP seats" that come with a four-course meal and open bar. Its price includes a £163.50 "booking fee", £26.16 in "tax" and a £7.50 "delivery fee".

It is selling seats without hospitality for £1,181.50 per pair. The firm is based in Murcia, Spain.

The stadium can hold 57,000, yet European governing body Uefa gave each finalist only 12,650 tickets, allocating the rest in a ballot and by sale to the German public.

Fulham are accused of letting down some loyal fans by allowing each of their 10,000 season-ticket holders four seats for the final on a "first come, first served" basis.