Leeds United will offer reciprocal deals to other Championship clubs, meaning away fans could see significant reductions in ticket prices – so long as their own club comes to an agreement.

The club originally said that away fans in the West Stand would be charged a whopping £45 for Category B games and £47 for Category A.

However, it has been announced today that a reciprocal agreement has been reached with Cardiff City who visit Elland Road for their season opener. Adult tickets will be priced at £21, concessions at £16 and juniors between £9-11.

This means visiting Bluebirds fans save £26 on the Category A fixture while Leeds United’s travelling supporters will be offered £21 tickets for the return game in January 2024.

It’s welcome news for Cardiff City fans and, potentially, very good news for any other supporters visiting Elland Road – so long as their own club does the right thing and agrees a fairly priced reciprocal deal with Leeds United.

If they don’t, and you end up paying £45 or £47 at Elland Road, there are two clubs at fault – Leeds United for setting such prices in the first place and your own club for not agreeing a cheaper deal with Leeds.

If they fail to agree a deal it’s fans who lose out as we pay higher prices while the money goes into club coffers. So we have to put pressure on clubs to do the right thing.

What can supporters do?

The FSA fought a long campaign for a football-wide away ticket price cap which the Premier League eventually introduced at £30 in 2016. We have also raised the possibility of a price cap with the EFL who insist that it’s up to each club to determine their own pricing strategy

We’ll be encouraging all our supporters’ groups in the Championship to lobby their clubs to set up a deal with Leeds United – there’s nothing wrong with individual fans contacting their club to make this point either.

And if a reciprocal deal can be set up with Leeds United, then why not others?

Sheffield Wednesday are back in the second tier and have historically charged high away prices while Bristol City, Coventry City, Middlesbrough, QPR and Swansea City regularly broke the £30 barrier for away fans last season.

If these clubs all agree cheaper deals with Leeds United it will make a difference for tens of thousands of travelling supporters this season – and if they agree to cheaper deals with Leeds United then surely they could do it with other clubs too?

This was how the away cap in the Premier League developed as, following fan protests, the number of clubs offering reciprocal deals passed a tipping point and it made sense for the clubs to introduce a league wide cap rather than relying on a web of bespoke deals.

But that didn’t happen in isolation.

It happened because Premier League fans in particular at that time were very active in lobbying their clubs to implement fairly-priced reciprocal deals. That was backed up by FSA discussions with the authorities at a national level.

However, the protests in the EFL around away prices never quite hit those heights, as £30+ tickets were the exception rather than the norm, so clubs never felt quite as pressured by supporters to reduce prices.

But the latest price announcements can fuel new rounds of activity while, crucially, Leeds United’s offer is a clear opportunity for clubs to do the right thing by their own supporters.

Contact your club and help make it happen.

What do Leeds supporters think?

We spoke to Leeds United Supporters’ Trust (LUST) who said they are delighted that the club will be offering reciprocal pricing deals for away supporters, and hope that other clubs in the division follow suit, using this as an opportunity to offer fair prices for all travelling fans.

“It is still concerning however that some of the prices for home supporters at Elland Road are unnecessarily high, and we urge the club to rethink their pricing structure,” said LUST.

“It should be noted that the prices set for younger fans are very reasonable and we applaud them for making it more accessible to watch Leeds United for families, however, charging almost £50 for an adult ticket in the second tier is not acceptable.”