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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Aaron Flanagan

Why no Ajax fans are at Chelsea for Champions League clash at Stamford Bridge

The away end at Stamford Bridge was left completely empty as Chelsea took on Ajax in the Champions League.

Not a single Ajax fan travelled to the game after the Dutch club were banned from selling their allocation for the fixture.

Ajax were banned from attending the fixture after crowd trouble in their game against Valencia at the Mestalla earlier this season.

The ban comes after Ajax were handed a suspended sentence for a similar disturbance during their Champions League clash against Benfica last season.

Eredivisie champions Ajax were also fined £43,200.

There will be no Ajax fans at Stamford Bridge (Getty Images)

Ajax fans are expected to be in London after thousands of fans had already booked travel and accommodation ready for the game.

But they were left out of pocket after UEFA's decision to ban the Dutch travelling support.

Initially, the group of over 2,000 Ajax fans were planning on heading to Leyton Orient's game in the EFL Trophy against Brighton's youth team as an alternative.

Orient claimed that they would hold talks with Ajax officials on how they can accommodate their fans, in what would have been a huge boost for the League Two club's finances.

But it was later decided that Orient's fixture would move over policing concerns.

It leaves open the possibility of Chelsea stewards having to stop Ajax fans from getting into the ground.

As a result, fans have been warned they should bring photo ID with them to the game.

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