While Manchester United fans fretted yesterday over their applications for visas to visit Russia, Uefa's paymasters were being fast-tracked to the best seats in the house at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.

Thousands of tickets for the Champions League final on May 21 have been given to key sponsors of Europe's governing body. Their visas were pushed through, with Uefa's help so that there would be no hold-ups. One executive disclosed yesterday that her passport was sent to the Russian Embassy in London on Tuesday and will be returned this morning.

Visitors to Russia usually have to provide a letter of invitation with their visa application, although those attending next month's final will be excused this requirement. Uefa sponsors, however, were supplied with invitations from the governing body, pre-approved by the Russian Embassy, with their applications rubber-stamped.

Uefa has six leading sponsors: Heineken, Sony, Ford, Vodafone, MasterCard and PlayStation, and they pay an estimated £100million into the organisation's coffers. They are among the corporate groups getting the VIP treatment.

Vodafone has organised flights, tickets and hotels for 130 guests, while Ford is laying on a trip for 700 people from around Europe, although there are only 50 places allocated to British guests, despite the all-English final. A spokesman for Ford said: “Uefa fast-tracked passports for us, so there have been no delays or problems so far. Obviously we prepared quite a while ago to ensure that we were not facing a hitch when we got near to the final.”

It is thought that Uefa's sponsors and guests, those from the two English clubs, and assorted other notables, could account for almost 27,000 of the 84,000 seats at the final.