The Dutch club NEC Nijmegen has issued an official position and a detailed explanation regarding the presence of Levski supporters in the home sections of the “Goffertstadion“ during the match between the two teams from the Europa League, which ended in a 1:1 draw.
The management of the Dutch team revealed that they have fulfilled the requirements of UEFA and have provided 200 Category 1 passes to the Bulgarian club. However, they did not hide their surprise at the way these tickets were distributed, and confirmed that the case has already been reported to the European football headquarters.
We publish the full text of the message from NEC Nijmegen:„On Thursday evening, in the second round of the UEFA Europa League, NEC played its home match against Levski Sofia (1:1). During and after this match, the club received many questions about the sale of tickets to Levski Sofia fans for seats in the regular stands. NEK is happy to explain how this came about.
As a club, everyone is obliged, according to UEFA rules, to provide 200 Category 1 tickets to the visiting club. These tickets are intended for official purposes, for example for business partners, invited guests and family members of players and staff.
NEK also uses these tickets for the same target groups on its European away matches. Therefore, we were surprised, given the information received during the preparation, to find that Levski Sofia provided or sold these tickets to its supporters in a different way.
As a home club, we must provide the minimum mandatory number of tickets to the visiting club. We have no direct influence on how the visiting club subsequently distributes these tickets. The situation was, of course, taken into account in the assessment with UEFA after the match.“