In order to go to the quarterfinals in the Europa League last 16, West Ham have to overcome a 1-0 deficit from the first leg victory against Freiburg.

It’s a game of life or death when the Germans visit London Stadium on Thursday.

Home advantage for the second match was awarded to David Moyes’ team for winning their group.

Thousands of seats are still unfilled for the game, though, which poses a severe threat to that home edge.

Manager and Hammers stars issue rallying cries

I stated that West Ham had 12,878 unsold tickets for the crucial second leg versus Freiburg as of Monday morning.

That would translate into 49,622 people present.

To help West Ham reach the quarterfinals, the manager, Vladimir Coufal, and other supporters have sent out rallying calls to the team’s supporters ahead of the match.

However, you won’t believe how many tickets West Ham sold for Freiburg in a single day as the FIFA call comes in strong.

West Ham sell paltry number of tickets in 24 hours for big clash

As supporters are likely aware, West Ham has been assigned the absurd kickoff time of 5:45 p.m.

I previously gave an explanation of that choice on Hammers News. In essence, it’s a part of the UEFA broadcast agreement, and Liverpool was selected for the 8 p.m. slot. Their match against Sparta Prague is now meaningless following a crushing 5-1 first leg loss.

Supporters of the Hammers have expressed their outrage at the choice. In order to travel to the London Stadium in time for the early kickoff, thousands of supporters are anticipated to take time from work in the middle of the week and brave rush hour.

That’s before having to negotiate the long queues for security checks at the ground.

And it’s having a major impact on the attendance as things stand.

UEFA call hits ticket uptake hard

as the UEFA summons comes at a time when West Ham has only sold 128 tickets for Freiburg in a single day.

12,750 tickets for the event were still available as of Tuesday morning.

For the next roughly 36 hours, West Ham will be looking for a spike in interest.

According to the club’s senior source, who spoke to Hammers News, they anticipate a gate of between 52 and 55k for the game, which would leave 8 to 10k seats empty.

Many thanks to UEFA