Football lovers and supporters who plan to stay in the city hosting this season’s Champions League final are in for a shock. According to reports, all hotels in the city are already booked. The final game is to hold June 3 in the city of Cardiff, the capital and largest city of Wales.
Hotels in Cardiff are expected to be completely full for the night of June 3, even though the semifinals haven’t even been played yet. The only likely space available for fans in the Welsh capital is tents, some of which can cost up to $2,300 for the Saturday night.
“Cardiff is a compact city and hotels are expected to be at capacity,” the Cardiff local authority told The Associated Press. “The council … agreed a contract with hoteliers to block book a proportion of the hotel stock in Cardiff, so we were able to host this prestigious event.”
UEFA, the governing body of European soccer, requires host cities to reserve hotel rooms far in advance of games to ensure players, officials and sponsors have accommodation — putting the squeeze on visiting fans when finals are played in smaller cities. With about 350,000 inhabitants, Cardiff is the first location with a population below 1 million to host the Champions League final since Gelsenkirchen, Germany, 13 years ago.