Northern Ireland fans get more tickets for Euro 2016 opener

The additional allocation follows a row over how Uefa had managed the system for making sure the most loyal fans were given priority on ticket sales.

More than 50,000 tickets were applied for but the total Northern Ireland allocation for the three group games is around 30,000.

Only 6,800 were initially made available to Northern Ireland fans for the opening match against Poland in Nice on June 12.

A number of loyal fans took to social media to complain that they had missed out despite supporting the team home and away over many years.

An additional 1,276 have been secured, meaning any supporter who had a block booking for the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign can now reapply.

According to a statement released by the IFA, the extra allocation “means that Northern Ireland fans ranked in the top two tiers of priority, specifically in category 3 for the game in Nice, will have access to tickets for the game”.

Supporters with a weighting of 13 points or above will be able to reapply for tickets based on the number that they originally requested.

The IFA has said it will now work with Uefa to ensure that the priority scheme that the association had put in place is applied correctly for the top-ranked supporters that missed out on the initial allocation.

Uefa have said they will contact all those supporters who qualify for the new release of tickets by the end of February.

However, unfortunately for the thousands of fans still missing out on Northern Ireland’s first ever European Championships, Uefa will not be releasing any extra tickets for the group games against Ukraine in Lyon or against Germany in Paris.

The governing body has said that 98 per cent of applications for the Ukraine and Germany games from Northern Ireland fans in the top level of priority were successful, although there were a few unsuccessful applications due to “credit card failures and incomplete or incorrect details”.

IFA chief executive Patrick Nelson said: “I would like to thank Northern Ireland fans for their understanding over the past few days. I believe that this extra allocation will further help us deliver on that aim and I would like to thank Uefa for their help throughout this ongoing process.”