How Football Club Membership Schemes Actually Work (And Whether They're Worth It for Tickets)

A football club membership does not get you a ticket. It gets you the right to try to buy one. That distinction is the bit most clubs gloss over in their marketing, and it's exactly what leaves you gutted after paying £30 to £70 for a membership card and still ending up empty-handed on sale day.

Here's how these schemes actually work across English football, what they cost, and a framework for deciding whether yours is worth the money.

Key takeaways

• A membership is a licence to queue, not a guaranteed seat. At most Premier League clubs, it gives you access to a priority sale window but does not include any ticket in the price.
• Prices range from £20 to £70 a year across the Big Six, and you still pay for every match ticket on top.
• Loyalty points and attendance credits determine your real priority. A brand-new member with zero history is at the back of the queue even during the "members' sale."
• Away days, cup finals, and top-six derbies are nearly impossible on a standard membership alone. Those go to season-ticket holders with years of points.
• Ticket exchanges and returns are your best backup. Chelsea and Man City both run official exchange systems that can put returned seats back in front of members.

What is a football club membership?

It's a paid annual scheme that sits below a season ticket in the club's pecking order. You pay a fee (typically £20 to £70 depending on club and tier), and in return you get access to member-only ticket sale windows, a club card, and assorted extras like store discounts, streaming access, or scarves nobody asked for.

The critical bit: Manchester City states plainly that a membership "does not guarantee a ticket for every home game" and "does not include the cost of any ticket." That's the standard across the league. You're paying for the privilege of joining the queue, not for a seat.

Think of it like a wristband to get into the shop. You still have to buy what's on the shelf, and the shelf's sometimes empty before you get there.

How much do memberships actually cost?

Here's how the Big Six shape up for 2026/27:

Club | Tier | Annual price

Manchester United | Official | £37.50

Manchester United | Premium | £70

Manchester United | Under-16 | £20

Manchester United | Forwarding (receive-only) | £30

Manchester City | Matchday | £38

Manchester City | Premium | £65

Manchester City | Junior | £20

Arsenal | [VERIFY: current membership tiers and prices for 2026/27] |

Liverpool | [VERIFY: current membership tiers and prices for 2026/27] |

Chelsea | [VERIFY: current membership tiers and prices for 2026/27] |

Tottenham | [VERIFY: current membership tiers and prices for 2026/27] |

Sources: Manchester United, Manchester City.

None of these include a single match ticket. That £37.50 or £38 is just the entry fee. The match ticket is extra, every single time. And at Manchester United, the Premium tier at £70 gives you the same ticket-buying access as the £37.50 Official tier. The extra cash buys you priority for new season-ticket sales, a £20 store voucher, MUTV, and bigger discounts. Not better odds on match day.

How does priority actually work during ticket sales?

This is where it gets properly confusing, and where clubs do a naff job of explaining it clearly.

Most Premier League clubs sell home tickets in waves. The typical sequence:

1. Season-ticket holders already have their seats locked in. Sorted.
2. Members with the highest loyalty points or credits get the next window. Could be days or weeks before general members.
3. Members with fewer points get a later window.
4. General sale (if it even happens). At the biggest clubs, for the biggest fixtures, it often doesn't.

The catch? Loyalty points are earned by attending matches, usually over multiple seasons. A first-year member starts at zero. So even though you've paid your £38 or £37.50, you're behind every member who's been going for years. Midweek League Cup against a lower-league side? Not a problem. Derby or top-four clash? You're toast.

At Manchester City, away tickets go strictly by ticket points, with season-ticket holders at the top of the list. Being "only a member" (City's own words) makes away and cup-final tickets much harder to bag.

Manchester United is blunter still: cup-final tickets are allocated by points among season-ticket holders, and members can't buy them at all. Even season-ticket holders aren't guaranteed a final ticket. No points, no chance.

What's the difference between membership and a season ticket?

Season ticket: guaranteed seat for every home league game. Membership: no guarantee of anything.

The gap in cost tells the story. Chelsea's cheapest adult season ticket for 2026/27 is £880, rising to £1,095. A membership is a fraction of that, but it gives you a fraction of the access too.

Level | What you get | Ticket guarantee?

Season ticket | Seat for every home league match, top priority for cups and away | Yes (home league)

Premium/high-tier membership | Early access window, best non-season-ticket priority | No

Standard membership | Access to members' sale window | No

No membership | General sale only (if it happens) | Absolutely not

If you can afford a season ticket and get off the waiting list (another proper faff at most top clubs), that's the only way to guarantee your seat. Membership is the next-best option, but "next-best" and "good enough" are not the same thing.

How do loyalty points and credits change your odds?

Loyalty points are the hidden currency of English football ticketing. Clubs use them to rank members during sale windows, so two people with identical memberships can have wildly different chances of bagging a ticket.

At Chelsea, loyalty points historically only came from tickets bought directly from the ticket office. From 2026/27, that's changed: points are now earned by attendance (your ticket scanned at the turnstile), meaning forwarded tickets and Ticket Exchange purchases count too. That's a meaningful shift for newer fans building up their history.

At Liverpool, match credits drive your priority in the members' sale, and from 2026/27 hospitality purchases no longer count toward those credits. So dropping a few hundred quid on hospitality won't game the system anymore.

The pattern is clear: clubs reward bums on seats, consistently, over time. A new member with zero history is always last in the queue, regardless of how much they've paid.

When is a membership not worth it?

Straight up? There are situations where your £30 to £70 is a mug's game.

The "membership worth-it checklist"

Run through these before you hand over your card details:

1. How many home games do you actually want to attend this season? If the answer is one or two, do the maths. A £38 membership plus the match ticket price could still be decent value, or you might find those specific games sell out before your zero-point membership gets a look-in.

1. Which fixtures are you after? Lower-demand games (midweek cups, bottom-half opposition) often reach general sale. Top-six clashes almost never do. If you only want the big ones, a fresh membership alone probably won't get you in. Be honest with yourself.

1. Does the club require membership for any ticket purchase? At Manchester United, you need a buying-tier membership for most home tickets. No membership, no chance. Other clubs do run open general sales for lower-demand fixtures.

1. What's your loyalty-point or credit standing? If you're starting from scratch, you're behind thousands of longer-standing members. Where does that actually put you? Probably miles back.

1. Have you checked the club's ticket exchange? Chelsea's Ticket Exchange lets season-ticket holders (and from 2026/27, True Blue and CFC Blue members) list tickets at face value, with listings open until three hours before kick-off. Man City runs a similar transfer system. These are often your best shot at a returned seat.

1. What's your total cost vs. expected access? If you pay £38 for a membership and only manage to buy one ticket all season, that's an extra £38 on top of face value. Not daylight robbery, but not brilliant either. Buy five or six, and the membership cost per game drops to something that actually makes sense.

If you answered "only the big games," "zero loyalty points," and "not sure about exchanges," think carefully before paying. Your money might be better spent keeping an eye on returns and last-minute availability. Football Ticket Pro's ticket alerts can flag when seats appear across fixtures, which is handy if you'd rather not refresh a club site all day like a mug.

What can you do when membership isn't enough?

You've paid up, you've logged in on time, and there's no joy. It happens constantly at oversubscribed clubs. Here's what's left:

• Ticket exchanges and returns. Your single best fallback. Seats come back as season-ticket holders make plans, sometimes just hours before kick-off.
• Cup scheme opt-outs. Season-ticket holders who skip cup games free up seats that filter down to members.
• Lower-demand fixtures. That Tuesday night game against a newly promoted side? Much easier to bag.
• Build your points. Attend the less glamorous matches, scan your ticket at the turnstile, stack your credits. Next season you'll be higher up the queue.

One thing to avoid at all costs: buying from unauthorised resale sites. In England and Wales, it's a criminal offence to resell a football match ticket without the club's written authority under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. Tickets from dodgy resellers risk being fake, duplicated, or voided at the gate. Not worth the risk. Not ever.

Your next steps

A club membership is a smart first move if you understand what it actually is: a queue pass, not a golden ticket. Check the specific club's requirements (at United you can't buy without one), be realistic about your loyalty standing, and use exchanges and returns as your backup plan.

The fans who get into the most games aren't just members. They're the ones who know the system and work it, match by match, season by season.

Stay sharp. Build your points. And don't spend a penny on a dodgy resale site.

Sources: Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea FC, Liverpool FC. Last verified 27 September 2026.

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