By Martin Graham
For some football followers, attending top-flight matches is part of their weekly routine. They hold season passes for home fixtures and travel the country to support their side on the road.
For others, watching a Premier League contest is a rare chance, something they save for and take extended time away from their daily lives to experience.
Last weekend, James from South Korea made the long journey of 5,500 miles to Brighton, eager to see his team Tottenham in action for the very first time. He had paid £900 through an unofficial resale site, only to be blocked from entering the Amex Stadium.
When he scanned his ticket, it had already been cancelled. Sent to the ticket office, he was told the purchase was not valid. “I am upset, I didn’t understand this rule,” James said outside the ground. “I was told I should try to get a refund.” He was one of over 100 supporters in the same situation.
The scale of resale problems
The BBC has uncovered a widespread black market in football tickets. Although reselling is against UK law, many sites continue to operate from abroad. Sellers often rely on software and false identities to grab tickets in bulk, later listing them for inflated prices.
This leaves regular fans unable to buy at face value and, in some cases, paying large sums for tickets that do not work. Tom Greatrex, chair of the Football Supporters’ Association, said that long-time fans are struggling to get tickets because of the way they are being sold through secondary channels.
Brighton’s response to ticket touting
Brighton says they are investing heavily in ways to stop this trade. This season they created a new position, ticket investigation officer, and appointed Joseph Sells to lead the work. At the Tottenham match, he reported preventing about £100,000 in illegal transactions.
Sells explained that Brighton is using advanced software to detect suspicious activity. The system assigns risk scores to each purchase and searches resale platforms for seat listings. It is designed to learn continuously and share findings with other clubs.
At the Tottenham fixture alone, 285 resale tickets were stopped, and 12 season ticket holders identified as touts had their access cancelled. In one case, a tout account was even registered under the name of film character Tony Montana.
Sells described how one family had paid £6,000 for six tickets to watch Manchester City recently, only to find themselves victims of fraud. He urged supporters to buy only from official club channels.
Support for affected fans
Those who present an invalid ticket at Brighton are handed a letter explaining the situation. It advises them to contact their card providers to seek repayment as victims of fraud.
If any seats remain available, whether from absent season ticket holders or hospitality areas, the club offers them to supporters who have been turned away.
The Premier League is also bringing in new rules for digital tickets, including encrypted barcodes, aimed at making resale more difficult. Still, for fans like James, who believe secondary sites are a way to achieve their dream, the reality can be a painful one.
