Manchester Utd

Manchester United are spending big money to help their traveling fans go to Russia

Published Mar. 1, 2017 11:20 a.m. ET

Ryan Rosenblatt

Manchester United will take on FC Rostov in the Europa League round of 16, which is a journey of nearly 4,000 miles roundtrip. That makes for a very expensive away trip if Red Devils fans in Manchester want to go with the team and, on top of that, Russia charges £118.20 in processing fees to get a visa. But Manchester United are going to help their fans out with that.

The club will reimburse all 500 of their away fans the cost of their visas, saving each of them nearly £120, according to the Mail. That will be an expense of almost £60,000 for Manchester United, but one they're happy to pay to help out their fans.

Part of the hurdle for fans in the round of 16 is the quick turnaround time. Manchester United only won their round of 32 tie last week and the draw was held last Friday, while the next round starts next Thursday. That's a 13-day turnaround and these fans need to submit their visa paperwork, scrounge up the money and sort out all the details on a long trip in that time. It's absolutely brutal, so the Red Devils want to help out where they can.

Next season, the hope is that Manchester United will be in the Champions League so things will be a lot easier, at least for the fans. But in the meantime, the club is doing their fans a (pretty expensive) solid.

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