Manchester City fans heading to Istanbul for the Champions League Final are being advised to make their way to the stadium NINE hours before kick-off. The Ataturk Stadium hosts this year's final between City and Inter Millan, but is more than an hour away from central Istanbul.
Public transport is limited and fans are being advised to prepare in advance how they will get to the stadium and to give themselves plenty of time to do so. The game kicks off at 10pm local time, however, dedicated fan zones near the stadium for each sets of fans open from 2pm.
Hundreds of shuttle busses are being put on from Istanbul and the airport to the ground from 1pm, giving fans plenty of time to reach the stadium before kick-off. The fan zones are accessible to ticket holding supporters only, with a UEFA spokesperson saying "supporters are encouraged to arrive early".
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UEFA is recommending against using taxis for getting to the stadium as traffic is expected to be extremely heavy in Istanbul on the day of the final. Instead they recommend using the shuttle bus service and giving yourself plenty of time to travel.
The travel is free for ticket holders and includes free use of the dedicated shuttle busses as well as all metro and tram services in Istanbul. The Mirror reports that there is only one metro station, ten minutes north of the stadium, so fans are therefore urged to use the buses instead. The shuttle busses will be running until 3am making it the most realistic way of getting back to the city after the game's conclusion.
City supporters are being asked to board at Yenikapi, near the fan festival run by UEFA and its commercial partners from Thursday morning. Fans with accessibility issues are being told the drop off points at the Ataturk are close to entry points.
The UEFA Champions League festival, in Yenikapi, Etkinlik Alani, Istanbul, is open from Thursday and will provide entertainment and live music. This event is free and people do not need a match ticket to enter. The festival will be televising the match for those without a ticket to get into the stadium.
The dedicated fan zones will be at each end of the ground for fans with tickets to the final. City’s will be at the southern end and will open at 2pm local time, eight hours before the game.
City and Inter fans will be met by three security checkpoints on their way into the stadium. The first will be a ticket activation (fans must have their phone’s bluetooth turned on), followed by body searches carried out by police and finally a separate search by a private security firm.
The Mirror reports that UEFA are promising affordable food and alcohol at the fanzones, which will be for ticketholders only. Smoking will be allowed and the bars will remain open until two hours before kick off.
Although no alcohol will be served inside the stadium on Saturday, there are plans to reopen the fan parks at full time until 30 minutes after the trophy presentation to ensure fans can eat and drink before returning to the city or airports.
Many of these changes have been implemented in an effort to avoid the dangerous scenes in Paris last year. The game at the Stade de France between Real Madrid and Liverpool was overshadowed by dangerous overcrowding, misleading messaging and significant errors by police which saw thousands of Liverpool fans, including children and people with mobility issues, locked outside and attacked while locals attempted to break into the stadium. A comprehensive review from UEFA led to supporters receiving an apology.
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