Email of the species

By Sébastien Billington

uefa.com receives hundreds of emails every week. We are not always able to answer your questions, but we try to please whenever possible. Sometimes, however, even our best efforts run into difficulties.

Mass hysteria
Katherine K wrote to us at the beginning of the season, requesting that all teams be knocked out of the UEFA Champions League, claiming that the competition is causing mass hysteria and hypnosis, and depriving many others of their loved ones.

Solution needed
We take issues of public health seriously, so gave the problem the thought we believed it deserves. We asked ourselves what a competition without any teams would be like and weighed up the pros and cons, but were unable to come up with a compromise to suit both Katherine and those who enjoy the competition as it is. If you have a solution, please write in and let us know.

Netball takes priority
Another request was sent in by Matt B of JRC Diamonds, who had tried to reschedule his team's training sessions for non-Champions League nights, but failed. As a last resort, he asked us to switch Champions League matches to Mondays and Thursdays. On a similar theme, Dano K and Arno H from the Greenternet Fan club of Ferencvárosi TC wrote in requesting that the UEFA Cup game between VfB Stuttgart and Ferencváros be postponed. Apparently, a member of the club had an important netball training session on the day of the game.

Terms and Conditions
Although our netball expertise is hazy, we would certainly go a long way to help improve the fitness of JRC Diamonds' players. We suggest, however, that requests of this kind are sent to us a little bit longer before the event in question, so that we have time to get in touch with the relevant clubs and officials.

Claiming a refund
Julian F had other worries. On returning from a Chelsea FC-Besiktas JK match, he watched the game again on video, only to realise that - due to players wasting time - he had actually only seen 65 minutes of football. Given that his ticket had cost €40, Julian asked us for a €10 refund.

Ticketing technology
We cannot refund him, of course, but we hear that a system whereby ticket prices will vary as a result of the score, number of minutes played, yellow and red cards handed out etc, is being developed. All this information will be entered into specially designed ticket machines which will be left to chew on the data for a while before producing a ticket people will have to pay for on the way out of the stadium.

Keep writing
So then, whether you are a tattoo shop requesting club logos for use on people's body parts, or if you are convinced Mexico should be the home of all future FIFA World Cups, we are always pleased to hear from you. Keep in touch.