Union Saint-Gilloise are trying to block Rangers fans snapping up tickets for the home end for the first leg of their crucial Champions League qualifier in Belgium next week after cottoning on to crafty Ibrox punters taking out membership schemes for the Jupiler Pro League side.
Rangers fans have been allocated just 750 briefs for the match which will be held at the home of USG’s Belgian top flight rivals OH Leuven's Den Dreef Stadium, around 18 miles from the capital of Brussels, with their own Stade Joseph Marien not up to UEFA standard.
That isn’t enough to satisfy the demand of the thousands of fans who want to travel across the North Sea hoping to see Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side move a step closer to reaching the Champions League group stage. And some are going to great lengths to try and get into the stadium - even if it means sitting in the home section.
Union Saint-Gilloise have allocated 8,400 for home fans with the club’s 5,600 season ticket holders each given the opportunity to buy two each. They then launched a membership scheme - at around 25 euros per person - to give priority for any remaining tickets that went out to a public sale. But they have taken the decision to close down that option after fears that some Rangers fans had opened up accounts in a bid to snap up any briefs and will now look at other ways of distributing the briefs.
Wily fans of Rangers’ Europa League conquerers, Eintracht Frankfurt, took a staggering 25,000 fans to the Nou Camp last season despite Barcelona allocating the Germans just 5,000. The Spanish side tried to stop visiting fans buying home end briefs by insisting on a Spanish bank card to purchase - and there were reports that Frankfurt supporters opened up accounts to buy tickets.
Union Saint-Gilloise face Charleroi in their first home league game on Friday night before the first leg of their tie with Rangers on Tuesday. That's followed by the return at Ibrox seven days later.
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