Manchester City freeze ticket prices for next season following mid-match fan protest

Hundreds of Man City fans staged a mid-match protest over ticketing issues against Leicester

Manchester City have frozen ticket prices for the 2025/26 season after fans made their dissatisfaction known in a mid-match protest.

A large portion City supporters stayed in the concourses of the Etihad Stadium for the first nine minutes of their Premier League clash against Leicester last week, infuriated by the club's new partnership with a ninth third-party ticket resale platform in Viagogo.

Although the Viagogo deal specifically relates to hospitality tickets, there were widespread concerns among supporters that these link-ups lead to tickets being resold at over-inflated prices or falling into the hands of away fans.

After a consultation meeting with official fan board City Matters, the club have now announced a price freeze relating to general-admission season tickets and match-by-match tickets for Premier League games.

This followed complaints from seven City supporters groups in an open letter to the club, which detailed issues surrounding the rise in ticket prices in recent seasons and the prospect of local fans being frozen out of attending games.

"Manchester City can confirm that general admission season ticket and Premier League match-by-match ticket prices will be frozen for the 2025/26 season,” a club statement read.

"This follows the club’s latest consultation meeting with its elected fan engagement programme, City Matters, and reflects the positive and constructive dialogue that has taken place over recent weeks.

"The club would like to thank City Matters representatives for the feedback they provide on a range of topics relating to ticketing, and for sharing a broad range of perspectives from the fans they represent.

The Etihad Stadium had notable empty patches as fans were urged to wait in the concourses for the opening nine minutes of City's clash against Leicester (Getty Images)

"The club and City Matters will continue their ongoing discussions and consultations throughout the coming months around the evolution of the fan experience on matchday in the redeveloped and expanded Etihad Stadium."

This comes after manager Pep Guardiola backed the fans’ right to protest prior to the visit of Leicester, which saw hundreds of fans miss Jack Grealish’s second-minute opener.

Guardiola said: “I don’t know specifically (this issue) but football clubs belong to the people and if the people don’t agree with something they can legitimately express concerns with the club.”