April 7, 2003

English FA help the participating Cup Final teams with 50-50 share in ticket sales

The England Football Association in partnership with Nationwide is to allow Charlton Athletic and Fulham to sell tickets, allowing them to keep half of the face value to reinvest in their women's teams.

This is the first time they have given a 50-50 buy-back offer and fans of the women's and men's club brand will be able to buy tickets directly and help the women's team.

Tickets will go on sale from both clubs on Wednesday April 8^th priced at £3 for adults and £1 for children. The tickets will be on sale until Thursday May 1^st at Charlton's box office on 020 8333 4010 or until Saturday May 3^rd from Fulham's ticket Office on 0870 442 1234. General tickets for the Final at Selhurst Park on Bank Holiday Monday May 5^th at 1.00pm will be on sale at the turnstiles.

Vicky Brown, Head of Women's Football at Fulham FC, said: "It is a fantastic opportunity, not only to raise funds for the Ladies set-up, but to ensure there is great support on the day from Fulham fans. The 50/50 initiative is a good example of how clubs and The FA are working together to push the women's game forward; to encourage self funding and to promote awareness of the quality and value of top-flight women's football. Advanced bookings are going well and we anticipate selling out of our allocation pretty quickly."

Steve Sutherland, Chair of the Charlton women's football committee said "More than 3,000 supporters came to The Valley to watch our semi-final against Arsenal and it would be fabulous if the same number travelled to Selhurst Park, a journey that Charlton fans know only too well. The decision to allow us to retain 50 per cent of the income from the tickets we sell is a great incentive and, as a lot of our support at the semi-final came from local schools, I am delighted The FA has allowed us to extend the offer to those schools. The money will help them further develop their women's football programme, while also helping to ensure Selhurst Park is packed with Charlton fans on May 5th."

The 50-50 offer is also available to girls' and women's clubs to invest back into the running of their club or for new equipment. For booking forms, call the women's football hotline on 020 8563 9147.