Manchester United have banned 685 accounts and either sanctioned or warned 464 supporters following a ticket touting investigation.
United began their investigation in July, triggering widespread protests from supporters who feared they were about to get their season tickets confiscated and had not been told why there was a problem.
The club subsequently amended the wording of warning emails being issued, accepted they had underestimated how many fans shared account details and acknowledged their actions had caused “distress” to some supporters.
However, they also defended their right to tackle the issue of touting and, in concluding their investigation have confirmed:
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468 cases were resolved after supporters responded with the relevant information. No further action was taken, as the information provided satisfactorily explained the activity identified
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226 accounts received a final warning where misuse was identified beyond simply sharing account details, but we were satisfied it wasn’t done for financial gain
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238 accounts had an initial season ticket ban reduced to a ban on home ticket forwarding and away match applications by the independent appeals panel, where there was a significantly higher level of misuse and the panel was not satisfied there was sufficient evidence of financial gain
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499 cases resulted in a season ticket ban that was upheld by the independent appeals panel. This ban will last for one season and then those supporters will be able to join the waiting list to apply for tickets again
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73 cases resulted in a season ticket ban that was not appealed
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113 season tickets were banned after repeated requests for information received no response
In total, the club say: “Six hundred and eighty-five accounts have been subject to a ban, while 464 supporters received a reduced sanction or final warning.
“Bans were issued where there was significant misuse of the ticketing system for financial gain. This included the operation of organised ticketing networks, which were controlling, selling and distributing tickets from hundreds of accounts.”
Club sources say a number of cases that were shared on social media are not true and do not tell the whole story of specific situations.
They say innocent fans have not been punished – and that it is beyond doubt the club have identified and banned hundreds of touts and broken up large-scale organised networks.
Whether that is enough to pacify irate supporter remains to be seen.
The 1958 fans group has called for a protest against the club’s ownership before Sunday’s Manchester derby, with the ticketing issues cited as a major reason for discontent.
“The club’s guiding principle around ticketing is simple: to keep our fans safe and secure, to protect fair access to tickets for genuine Manchester United supporters and to tackle ticket touting, misuse and activity for financial gain,” said United.
The club stress that until the appeals process was complete, sanctioned tickets will be sold ‘at season ticket prices’ on a match-by-match basis.
“The club is not profiting from this process,” United added.
Manchester United are not the only ‘top six’ Premier League club to launch a widespread ticket touting investigation in recent months.
In March 2025, Manchester City banned 165 supporters for touting after away supporters were identified in home areas at Etihad Stadium.
In July 2026, Liverpool issued 432 lifetime bans as part of their own ticket touting crackdown. In addition, more than £1.2m worth of assets were seized.
In September 2025, a investigation uncovered a black market selling thousands of Premier League tickets, through companies based at a number of overseas locations.
