Ticket price rise means more tourist fans, warns football supporters chairman

Football Supporters' Federation (FSF) chairman Malcolm Clarke has warned stadiums in England will continue to be filled by tourists rather than locals if ticket prices keep rising.

A reported 10,000 Liverpool fans staged a walkout in their Premier League clash with Sunderland at Anfield last week over the inflation of ticket prices from next season onwards. 

Season tickets at Anfield are set to become even more expensive, while the club raised their most expensive ticket to £77 - up from £59 in 2015-16.

The FSF are reportedly set to hold talks with supporter groups around the country, with the plan to stage mass protests across the league. 

Clarke told BBC he believes stadiums will lose their atmosphere due to being replaced by "foreign tourists with half-and-half scarves taking selfies of being in an English ground".

The chairman also hopes the FSF can ensure top-flight clubs "really do deliver some sort of a package" which will help bring down the price of attending matches for locals.

Fans of German side Borussia Dortmund also staged their own protest over ticket prices, intentionally missing the first 20 minutes of their DFB-Pokal clash with Stuttgart on Tuesday.