London (CNN) They're two of the English Premier League's best supported clubs, separated by less than 13 kilometers -- but both Arsenal and Chelsea will have to travel over 4,000 km away from home to play the Europa League final. Why? It's a question many football and non-football fans were asking after the two London clubs booked their places in the May 29 final scheduled to take place in Baku, Azerbaijan. For Arsenal and Chelsea supporters, there are so many questions, chiefly why UEFA, European football's governing body, appears to have allocated less than 12,000 tickets to the two clubs for a match with 64,000 tickets on offer. Throw in the cost of flights from London to Baku, the price of accommodation and the length of the journey, and it's clear why fan groups and clubs are up in arms, not to mention the enormous carbon footprint that will be stamped all over the final. UEFA selected Baku as the venue for the final back in 2017 and a long way before anyone could have predicted two of English football's biggest teams would make the final -- but that has not stopped critics from questioning the decision. Jurgen Klopp, the Liverpool coach, whose side will play Tottenham in the Champions League final in Madrid on June 1, told reporters Friday that the decision looked "irresponsible." "With Madrid it's unbelievably expensive, but it's not another part of the world at least," Klopp said. "Going to Baku for a Europa League final is really funny, I think. "The guys who make the decisions, I don't know what they have for breakfast. Last year we went to Kiev, which is a wonderful city, but that a Russian team or a team from that part of the world would be involved is not really likely. Then they had to prepare. "Now Madrid has to prepare for 200,000 English fans but it knew already that it could happen. Baku, I don't even know how to go there or if there is any regular flight. "These decisions, they must be much more sensible and reasonable. It looks irresponsible." Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp has criticized the pricing of tickets for the Champions League final. According to European football's governing body, UEFA's logistical planning for the Europa League final had estimated 15,000 spectators would be able to travel from abroad. "Offering more tickets to fans of the participating teams, without any guarantee that they would be able to arrange suitable travel to reach Baku, was therefore not a responsible option," said UEFA in a statement sent to CNN. "Based on these circumstances, for this year's UEFA Europa League final in Baku, 6,000 tickets have been made available to each of the finalists. UEFA remains in close contact with the finalists regarding the travel arrangements of their supporters and any other operational aspects with regards to the final." Ticket troubles As supporters of Chelsea and Arsenal began to soak up the success of their side's achievements, the bitter reality of missing out on being able to get a ticket for the final started to dawn on them. "We are in active discussions with UEFA for more tickets for our fans but this disappointing ticket allocation obviously presents us with extreme difficulties in how we allocate tickets to you, our loyal supporters," a statement on the Arsenal website read. "As many of you will be aware, we are proud to have approximately 45,000 season ticket holders and over 180,000 official members. "It is inevitable that with an allocation of just 6,000 tickets for the final, there will be thousands of fans who have supported the club for years and been part of our Europa League journey this season, who will be unable to attend this match." Chelsea, meanwhile, was given even fewer tickets -- a figure of 5,801 was quoted on the club's website, though it was not immediately clear if the club would be asking for more. According to UEFA, 37,500 tickets have been made available to football fans from across the world through a ballot on its website. Nonetheless there are just under 14,700 tickets, which UEFA says are allocated to the local organizing committee, national associations, commercial broadcasters, "and to serve the corporate hospitality program with competitive packages." 'Time to stop cashing in on fan loyalty' Criticism of UEFA's ticketing policy is not confined to the Europa League. Given the gross commercial revenue from the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League, the 2018/19 UEFA Europa League and the 2018 UEFA Super Cup is estimated at around $3.65 billion by European football's governing body, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur supporters groups say it's "time to stop cashing in on fan loyalty." Lucas Moura scored a hat-trick in Tottenham's 3-2 semifinal victory at Ajax. Ticket prices for the June 1 final n the Spanish capital published on the Liverpool website range from £513 ($668) down to the cheapest of £60 ($78), though only 20% of Liverpool's allocation includes the cheapest option. According to the two supporter groups, prices of flights have increased by an astonishing 840%. It also says that hotel rooms in Madrid are going for more than £1,000 ($1,300) a night and that there have been examples of "room bookings being canceled and resold at vastly inflated rates." Labeling the ticket prices as exorbitant, the statement added: "There needs to be transparency from UEFA and both clubs in how tickets are priced and allocated. "For many, the final is not a one-off event. It is the culmination of a season-long journey for fans, who have spent thousands of pounds already traveling to support their team, bringing the spectacle and atmosphere that is a key part of the game so prized by television. "<doc-sep>Sign up to FREE email alerts from Football London - Arsenal Invalid Email Something went wrong, please try again later. Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Former Spurs player Glenn Hoddle believes that English teams can continue to dominate European competitions in the near future. Arsenal and Chelsea made it to the Europa League final last night (Thursday), joining Tottenham and Liverpool, who secured their places in the Champions League final earlier in the week, in a European final. It is the first time that all four finalists have come from the same country and league. Speaking on BT Sport after the Chelsea game, Hoddle said that the achievement is something to celebrate. "It’s wonderful for English football, it really is. And you can only see those four clubs getting stronger, adding to their squads for next season. So don’t be surprised if, you know, finals will be full of English teams," he said. "Whether we get all four again next season, let’s celebrate this season. It’s been wonderful and they’ve done it the right way. All four teams should be proud of the way they played. They look to attack, they’ve got really creative players in their teams." The pundit also praised Chelsea's resilience and goalkeeper after their penalty shootout success. "Chelsea weren’t so good tonight, I’ve seen them play a lot better," he added. "But what a good side; you’re not playing at your best and you win the match. By hook or by crook you find a way and it went to penalties. "Anything can happen with penalties. Kepa, you’ve got to give him a bit pat on the back. He did well tonight. He did his homework. We thought there was a few times when they were going to go straight down the middle and he’s read that. And that’s crucial to do that. "At this stage in the modern game, there’s so much information there and he’s used that and it’s come up trumps for him." Keep up to date with the latest news, features and exclusives from football.london via the free football.london app for iPhone and Android . Available to download from the App Store and Google Play .<doc-sep>Regardless of what people may think about its status relative to its big brother, reaching a final of a European cup competition is a big damn deal, and something to be celebrated. As this is Arsenal’s first European final since 2006, it could be assumed that a lot of Arsenal fans would want to make the pilgrimage to Baku to watch their favorite team play in the final in person. Well. News emerged today from the good people at UEFA that Arsenal and Chelsea are each to be allocated 6,000 seats for the final on the 29th. That’s...not a lot. I mean, yes, Baku is kind of a long way from anywhere - it’s a five hour flight time from London, 11.5 hours from New York, almost 13 from Portland (going over the pole saves a lot of time), and anywhere from 5-8 hours from south Asia. It’s even a three hour flight from Moscow. In other words, from wherever you are outside of Azerbaijan, It’s not exactly a trivial effort to get there. And it’s not like there’s a lot of non-stop flights from anywhere to BakuAnd the game is on a Wednesday, which further limits the potential traveling pool because not everyone can take at a minimum two days off work. But for UEFA to decide in advance that they’re going to artificially limit the numbers of traveling fans, instead of opening up 15-20,000 seats at first and then selling the unused ones once they see what demand actually is, seems a little shortsighted. The capacity of Baku Olympic Stadium is just a hair under 69,000. If every supporter seat is sold, that means that 17 percent of the seats will be going to fans, with the other 56,700 seats, or 83 percent of the capacity of the stadium, will be going to VIP’s of the other member states in the federation and to all of UEFA’s sponsors oh wait no never mind I get it now I forgot who soccer is for these days let’s all watch on TV at home.<doc-sep>
Arsenal and Chelsea made it four English teams from four in European finals this season but most of their fans will have to stay home with each club getting just 6,000 tickets to the final. It's been quite the week for English clubs in Europe and the country's football teams are more stubborn than the government over getting out of the continent with both the Champions League and Europa League finals now full with Premier League sides. On Thursday night Arsenal and Chelsea qualified for the Europa League final, with far less drama than Liverpool and Spurs had managed even with the Blues needing a penalty shoot out. Loading… Advert 10 Players and fans of both sides were obviously jubilant after frustrating up and down seasons can culminate in a European final and both could now qualify for next season's Champions League, impressive considering how their season have gone. However there was still something for them to be annoyed about with the announcement that each team will get just 6,000 tickets for the final in Baku, Azerbaijan, on May 29th. The Olympic Stadium holds near 69,000 and people are rightly not happy about the situation: If you thought the UCL ticket allocation was a disgrace - Arsenal and Chelsea will have just 6000 tickets per team for fans for the #UEL final. The stadium holds 68,700 fans. That's less than 9% of tickets going to actual supporters. Disgusting. - Will Gavin (@WillGav) May 9, 2019 Advert 10 6000 tickets each to @ChelseaFC @Arsenal for @EuropaLeague final @AFTVMedia @ChelseaFC Fans should boycott the final that is woeful! fans make football we have to contend with airlines taking the Micky with prices hotels charging crazy fees now this! #boycotteuropaleaguefinal - rhys shirley (@rhysshirl) May 10, 2019 Olympic Stadium has a capacity of 69870 Arsenal and Chelsea fans are being allocated 6000-7000 tickets each. Rest of the tickets are for sponsors and officials etc Whats the point of actually playing then? Sunday League would have a better atmosphere than that. - Yureed Elahi (@yureedelahii) May 10, 2019 Never mind the Champions League final, this is a total disgrace. 6000 tickets for each team & how much to get to Baku. Absolutely shameful from @UEFA, yet another example of the average fan being snubbed. The worst thing is that it's not even surprising anymore. https://t.co/zgSO2d2nTW - Roddy Cons (@TheTeamOnTour) May 10, 2019 Advert 10 Winds me up how little tickets teams are awarded for finals.16000 each for Spurs and Liverpool in a81000 seater stadium. 6000 each for Chelsea and Arsenal.Sickening for fans who have gone to every match to have some rich fucking prick or some daughter of the sponsor go! - Fid (@FidBrown) May 10, 2019 You can tell they've fucked up the Europa final when each side only getting 6000 tickets isn't even an issue. Yous and your ticket collection, £1000 flights and middle of nowhere location can get to fuck @ChelseaFC @UEFA - Rory (@Rory_Carefree98) May 10, 2019 On top of the lack of tickets there's also an issue with the travel to Azerbaijan with flights from London costing in the region of £1000 for a journey of more than eight hours. That really is some way to take the shine off reaching the final of a European competition. Advert 10 As usual it is the fans who pay the price for the money grabbing and greed that runs the sport and that only ever ruins it. Tickets will be available through UEFA for all fans and Chelsea and Arsenal supporters will get their hands on some of those but it is the dignitaries and corporate sponsors who will make up a lot of the crowd.