Man Utd ban 685 fan accounts after touting probe

· BBC-PL

Manchester United bans 685 fan accounts after a ticket touting investigation and insists innocent fans have not been punished.

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 BBC investigation uncovered a black market selling thousands of Premier League tickets , through companies based at a number of overseas locations.

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