Fans Take First Trip to Istanbul for Champions League Final: ‘Worth Every Penny’

25.08.2023 - 13:26 / skift.com / Justin Dawes

Liam McDonald, Andrew Newell, and their group of six friends and family spent roughly $1,200 each for flights and hotels in Istanbul this weekend. 

They had been waiting to see which teams would be playing at the UEFA Champions League final when their favorite football team, Manchester City, beat Real Madrid in the semi-final three weeks ago. That’s when they booked the trip from Dublin. 

They travel about once a month from Dublin to Manchester for games during the season. When they learned their team would be in the final, there was no question that they would take their first trip to Istanbul. 

“This is a once in a lifetime experience,” McDonald said.

Their group wasn’t the only one that jumped to book their flights and hotels. Hotel occupancy — not including short-term rentals through platforms like Airbnb — in Istanbul increased roughly 20 percent during the period directly after the semi-final games. There were a third more flights this week from Manchester alone, totaling more than 9,300 passengers, according to data from aviation analytics firm Cirium.

Manchester City and Inter Milan each got 20,000 tickets to sell. Those teams’ sections on either end of the stadium were full of cheering fans, a sea of dark blue on the Italian end and another of light blue on the English side. There were 7,200 tickets for general sale, and the rest were allocated to sponsors to distribute. There were 71,412 people in attendance, according to the final count by the UEFA. 

The ticket prices alone brought millions of dollars into the city. It’s hard to measure the additional direct economic impact from increased spending at hotels, restaurants, bars, and shops.

The restaurants and bars in the center of Istanbul were certainly lively during the nights leading up to the game, with visitors and locals wearing the jersey of the teams they support as well as souvenir scarves from numerous salesmen on the street. 

Manchester City won the final on Saturday against Inter Milan 1-0, earning the team the UEFA season trophy for the first time. 

Newell said the group wouldn’t be going to sleep that night. He did not set a budget for his trip, either, and he said he has no idea how much he’s spending.

“I don’t really care at all,” he said. “Worth every penny, this, to see them win.”

Besides the people who attended the game inside the stadium, there were thousands more gathered outside to support their teams and take part in the celebration. Some were standing in groups on the sidewalk, while others sat on blankets on the grass. 

The event was largely peaceful, though there was a rambunctious crowd and a strong security presence.

Outside the stadium, countless police were monitoring every entrance and the spaces in between,