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Manchester United have banned 685 ticketing accounts and sanctioned or warned a further 464 supporters following a summer-long investigation into ticket misuse and touting ahead of Sunday’s Manchester derby.
The club launched the investigation in July after identifying unusual activity involving 1,617 accounts. United said, however, that bans were imposed only where significant misuse of its ticketing system for financial gain was established.
According to the club, 468 cases were closed without further action after supporters provided information that satisfactorily explained the flagged activity. Another 226 accounts received final warnings after misuse was identified, but there was insufficient evidence that the activity was financially motivated.
An independent appeals panel reduced sanctions against 238 season-ticket holders to restrictions on home-ticket forwarding and applications for away matches. United said 499 season-ticket bans were upheld on appeal, while 73 bans were not appealed.
A further 113 season tickets were banned after supporters repeatedly failed to respond to requests for information. The club said the investigation uncovered organised ticketing networks involved in controlling, selling and distributing tickets across hundreds of accounts.
“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,” United said.
The crackdown has nevertheless angered sections of the club’s support base. The 1958, a Manchester United supporters’ group, is organising a protest before Sunday’s derby against Manchester City, accusing the club of taking a heavy-handed approach to the sanctions.
“Manchester United are sanctioning and banning loyal, generational Reds without clear and compelling evidence,” the group said, demanding that the club provide evidence of serious wrongdoing and organised ticket touting.
The supporters also want affected fans to have a fair opportunity to understand and challenge the cases against them. The Football Supporters’ Association had earlier reported concerns from several United fan groups over the club’s ticketing enforcement measures.
United has defended the investigation, maintaining that innocent supporters were not punished and that the operation disrupted large-scale organised ticket-touting networks.
The club also said sanctioned tickets would be sold at season-ticket prices on a match-by-match basis while the appeals process was completed, stressing that it was not profiting from the process.
Manchester United are not the only Premier League club tackling ticket touting. Manchester City banned 165 supporters in March 2025, while Liverpool issued 432 lifetime bans in July 2026 and seized assets worth more than £1.2 million, according to the BBC.
