Supporters of Manchester United and Chelsea who have already purchased Russian visas will be left out of pocket if the authorities in Moscow decide to waive the usual procedure and let fans enter the country without the document.

More than a thousand fans have already paid upwards of £65 to the Russian National Tourist Office (RNTO), the private company given exclusive rights to process supporters’ visas by the Russian Embassy - at a 50 per cent mark-up on the usual fee.

Ildar Khafizov, a director of RNTO, said that his company could not refund any fees. “We’ve paid the Russian Embassy and they don’t do refunds,” he said. “The rest of the money has gone into our costs. We will be out of pocket but that’s life. We still believe that if the rumours from Moscow are true, still a lot of people will need visas.

“There could be as many as 10,000 people who are going without a ticket and we still keep the rights to process their visas.”

The news came as speculation continued over whether or not Russia will streamline requirements for the estimated 50,000 fans who will descend on Moscow for the final, on May 21. Both Uefa and the Moscow city authorities said that they hoped for a breakthrough this weekend, but British officials do not think that Russia’s federal government will allow further relaxing of the rules.

Much of the dispute centres on the fact that Britain has refused to slim down its entry requirements for fans of Zenit St Petersburg, who will travel from Russia to Manchester for the Uefa Cup final against Rangers on May 14. “We’re not budging on ours, so they are not going to move on theirs,” one Home Office official said.

Nevertheless, Uefa remains hopeful that Russian regulations will be relaxed, perhaps allowing British fans to enter Moscow using their final ticket as a visa.

“We are thinking that probably the Russian Government would approve such a measure during the weekend and we could announce it on Monday, but again, this is nothing official,” a spokesman said.