The London Stadium, home to West Ham

Tickets for London Stadiums

I am a regulator contributor and moderator to various groups on Facebook for visitors to London. On a group I mod and all the others the same question comes up time after time after time. “How do I get tickets for Premier League games?” There will then follow a meter or two of comments and occasionally some facts from locals. In among someone screaming how they got tickets for Adele in Paris or Bruce in Tampa which add nothing to the discussion and leave the original poster even more confused, some local season ticket holder or 50-year an Arsenal fan try to give facts. Last night’s abuse of my eyeballs was as bad as it gets but fortunately my friend Richard Atkinson did more than moan. He put together a semi-definitive guide to help people get tickets without being victims of criminal activities. Yes, I say, definitive but acknowledge there are options but probably not options to a first time purchaser with no purchase history etc. To make this truly definitive, Richard has kindly said I may upload it here and if anyone has any suggestions, please do get in contact with me and I will update. Thanks in advance.

London currently has 6 teams playing in the Premier League

Arsenal – Tube – Holloway Road

Chelsea – Tube – Fulham Broadway

Tottenham Hotspur – White Hart Lane on Weaver line (overground) or Northumberland Park (National Rail), Tottenham Hale (Victoria and National Rail) Seven Sisters tube and walk

Fulham – Putney Bridge tube or bus

Brentford – Train Waterloo-Kew Bridge, Gunnersbury (District Line/Mildmay Overground)

Crystal Palace -Train Victoria to Selhurst, Thornton Heath, Norwood Junction

Obviously there are other well known clubs outside of London such as Liverpool, Manchester United and Manchester City.

Both Liverpool and Manchester are around 2 1/2 – 3 hours train journey from London and would probably require an overnight stay in either city IF you can secure match tickets.

The first thing to be aware of is that time and dates of fixtures may change due to TV schedules or cup matches. This is normally announced approximately 6 weeks in advance, use the specific club websites for up to date information so don’t necessarily plan your whole trip around the game until dates are confirmed as you may miss the game and not necessarily be able to get a refund.

Unfortunately tickets for Premier League clubs are rarer than gold hens’ teeth unless you are a season ticket holder or club member. The latter often only gets you into a ballot for a ticket anyway. The reality is in 2026 that to even get a face value ticket from any of the top clubs you MUST be a member. To get a legitimate third party sale using the club’s ticket exchange, you must be registered and sometimes even in advance. You often cannot just find that tickets for Rovers v City has tickets available and expect to buy one from a member who cannot attend. You must have a club membership number. This being 2026, this is probably going to cost you AND may not guarantee a ticket.

Check out the Premier League website for information about tickets and membership for individual clubs. Their information is VERY clear.

BE VERY CAUTIOUS OF THIRD PARTY SELLERS: A large proportion of them are not genuine ticket resellers and you can potentially lose a lot of money on tickets that are invalid and, worse than that, you may well be turned away on arrival at the game. The Premier league website listed above has a list of known illegal or scam ticket sellers. Just click on the unauthorised tickets tab. Remember ticket touting or scalping is illegal in the UK and you risk losing a lot of money AND still be denied admission. Chelsea denied 2000 people at the very turnstile last season. That’s a lot of broken dreams. Pleading “…but I used StubHub in Vienna or Viator in Chicago,” is not going to get through security! (I know Steve was at Stamford Bridge recently for a women’s game with tickets on general sale with thousands of empty seats. The group of tourists next to him were lucky to get in ……but paid twenty six times the price Steve did and they could have done. Ouch!)

A number of clubs have an overseas membership scheme which can sometimes get access to tickets. Visit the relevant club’s website for information. Note that you often need to join up 3 months in advance, to even be considered for tickets so start thinking about joining ASAP.

The only other option after all of the above would be hospitality tickets which can work out very expensive. Most will include access to some sort of restaurant or bar with food and drinks provided. Again only purchase through the club themselves. Some of the illegal sites will quote a restaurant etc AWAY from the stadium. That is normally a good clue to avoid without further thought!

…. and what happens when things go wrong and you buy from a dodgy agent, hotel concierge etc

Unauthorised Websites

“Brentford FC can only guarantee the authenticity of tickets purchased from our official sources. If you buy tickets from any other website or seller, you risk purchasing illegal or invalid tickets.

Tickets obtained through unauthorised sellers, whether online or from street vendors, will be deemed invalid, and the ticket holder may be denied entry to the Gtech Community Stadium or asked to leave.”

That is from the official Brentford website. All clubs will have something similar.

Now for some good news. In general domestic cup matches for The FA Cup or Carabao often have tickets readily available and often as low as £10 but premier league teams won’t enter these competitions until later in the season AND they may not play their “star players.” It’s still a great way to visit the stadium and see a match. Equally the early rounds of the various European cup competitions will mean tickets readily available.

Another option is an England international match which are normally played at Wembley Stadium in North West London. Tickets are available through the Football Association or Wembley stadium website and are often freely available and tend to be about 1/2 the price of Premier League tickets. Wembley Stadium itself is impressive and is easily reached (Wembley Park on the tube and Wembley Stadium National Rail.)

The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Fixtures for 2026:

26 September England v Spain

6 October England v Czech Republic

12 November England v Croatia

Be aware there will not be any premier league matches in the weekend prior to these games.

If you are travelling in July/Early August this is the start of pre season matches often friendlies or mini tournaments against teams from other parts of Europe. For tickets look around 6 weeks ahead.

Perhaps consider a game outside of the Premier League lots of London based clubs in the lower divisions.

London Teams in Lower Divisions

Championship

Queens Park Rangers, probably closest to central London in Shepherds Bush but Shepherd’s Bush Market, Wood Lane and White City are all within easy walking distance.

Watford (Just outside of London easy by train to Watford Junction or tube to Watford (both about 20 minutes walk or 5 minute cab ride from stadium.)

Millwall – Train London Bridge to South Bermondsey

Charlton Athletic – Trains from Cannon Street and Charing Cross to Charlton

West Ham – Various options to Stratford

(Avoid West Ham v Millwall)

League 1

Leyton Orient tube to Leyton

Bromley Train from Charing Cross/Waterloo East/London Bridge to Bromley South then cab

AFC Wimbledon (another good option for families) – Train Blackfriars to Haydons Lane

Reading (Outside of London but now accessible via Elizabeth line) Then cab to the stadium

League 2

Barnet tube to Queensbury or Canons Park on the Jubilee Line

Gillingham – National Rail to Gillingham and short walk

For Championship some high-profile games will sell out quickly but for others it’s worth looking a few weeks ahead. Leagues 1&2 should generally be available on the day but if you are certain of your dates book ahead online. Some clubs are online bookings only ….even on the day so always check on their official website.

Women’s football is increasingly popular. Chelsea, & Arsenal, have now moved to play all WSL matches at the men’s stadium.Tottenham and West Ham all have top women’s teams games against other London based clubs often attract 40-50 thousand fans which generates a great atmosphere. If you are interested in the women’s game see Clare McEwen’s She Can Kick It

Look here for up to date fixtures for all levels of London based football right down to the non-league setup which is huge http://www.tlfg.uk/ Did you know there are over 100 grounds within 15 miles of Shepherds Bush?

If you can’t get to a game stadium tours are available at Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal, West Ham (Olympic stadium) and Wembley as well as Fulham, QPR and Brentford on selected days.


The images are watercolours by my friend Dave Baldwin. A quick scan says he has prints of all the London Stadiums and if there is anywhere you would like him to complete, just drop him or me a line.

Richard and I hope this has been of use and, as I said above, if you have any input please do not hesitate to contact me. All updated information is useful.

So, thanks indeed to Richard for that. As I say Richard is a London tour guide of 23 years experience specialising in small group and private walking tours. He is also a big football fan, since a very young age attending numerous games a season at all levels, having previously worked for Chelsea, West Ham United Tottenham Hotspur, Crystal Palace and AFC Wimbledon and The Football Association. He is well versed into how football ticketing operates. If you would like more information about his tours, they can be found HERE

Or DM him via Facebook messenger

POSTSCRIPT: The images are courtesy of Dave Baldwin at Papilios Creative.

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