Buy Manchester City vs Hull City tickets for the 2026/27 Season and the date to work to is Saturday 19 December 2026, with kickoff at the Etihad Stadium scheduled for 15:00 GMT. Premier League broadcast selections for the December rounds are confirmed roughly five weeks ahead, so treat that time as scheduled rather than locked. Of every home fixture on City's calendar this season, this is among the more attainable ones.
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That is not a slight on the occasion. It is how Manchester City tier their own sale: the marquee dates carry a one-ticket-per-member limit, while fixtures in this bracket allow members up to four tickets each. For anyone trying to bring a group to the Etihad rather than a single seat, December is the month to aim at.
There is a second reason to look closely. The Etihad now holds around 61,000 after the North Stand rebuild finished at the end of last season. For many buyers a mid-table December fixture is the first realistic chance to sit in the new stand rather than watch it fill on television.
Hull City have not played a Premier League match at the Etihad since April 2017. They went down that summer, spent nine seasons working back through the Championship and one spell in the third tier, then beat Middlesbrough at Wembley in May 2026 to return. A support that has waited that long does not treat a trip to Manchester as routine.
The Premier League sets the floor on how many of them get in. Under the league's own rules a club with a stadium of 30,000 or more must release 3,000 tickets to visiting supporters, plus a proportion of accessible seating. At the Etihad that block sits in the south-east corner of the South Stand, reached through entrances L1 to L3, with its own concourse.
Three thousand seats for a promoted club's first visit in nine years will not cover the demand from Humberside. Everything beyond that allocation has to come from the home portions of the ground or the resale market, which is where buyers without a Hull connection and buyers without a City membership end up competing for the same listings.
Scale is part of the pull too. Hull's own ground holds a little over 25,000, so a trip to a 61,000-seat stadium is a different order of afternoon for supporters who have spent nine seasons at Championship and League One venues. Away days like this are what promotion is bought for.
Home demand behaves differently from the headline fixtures. City's season ticket base and membership scheme absorb most of the ground, but because this fixture sits outside the restricted bracket, members can buy in fours and season ticket members can add three more on top. More seats circulate. That is the practical difference between chasing this and chasing the derby.
Not through the club. City sell home tickets to members first. Membership itself is a paid tier: Premium at 65 pounds, Matchday at 38 pounds and Junior at 20 pounds for the season. Buy one in December and you are paying a season's membership fee for a single afternoon, which rarely makes sense unless you plan to return.
There is also a sequencing problem. The initial release goes to qualifying members, then a further release lands several weeks before the fixture, which includes seats put back by season ticket holders through the club's own exchange. Both windows open and close before most people have finalised their December plans.
The resale market is the route that stays open. Listings on 1BoxOffice come from season ticket holders who cannot make a pre-Christmas Saturday, from members who bought their four and need to shift one, or from corporate seat holders releasing a fixture they will not use. You see the stand, the tier and the price before you commit, with no membership fee attached to the transaction.
The second release is the one most people miss. Season ticket holders who cannot attend can return their seat through the club's own exchange. Those seats go back into general sale in the weeks before the fixture rather than all at once. It is a trickle rather than a drop, which rewards checking repeatedly instead of once.
Worth saying plainly: because this is a lower-tier fixture in City's own grading, resale supply for it is healthier than for the fixtures that dominate the calendar. Buyers who have given up on ever getting into the Etihad should look harder at dates like this one.
Five things move a Premier League resale price: where the seat sits, how hard both supports are chasing tickets, where the fixture falls in the calendar, what is riding on the result and whether hospitality is bundled in. A December Saturday against a promoted side pulls on the calendar and the location far more than it pulls on the other three.
Face value gives you the floor. For a fixture in this bracket City price adult general admission between 20 and 40 pounds, with reduced bands for under-18s, over-65s and disabled supporters. Resale sits above that because it reflects what people who missed the member window will pay, not what the club set in the summer.
For the 2026/27 Season, resale listings for this fixture have opened from around £81. The bands below show where the rest of the ground typically sits.
One quirk of English football is worth knowing before you compare numbers. Premier League clubs have for several seasons operated a league-wide cap on what visiting supporters pay, well below what home areas cost, which is why an away-end seat and a home-end seat at the same match are priced on completely different logic. That cap applies to the club's allocation rather than the resale market.
| Ticket Type | Resale Price Range | Best For | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upper tier and corner positions | £81 – £130 | Buyers who want the lowest entry price into the ground | Third tier of the South Stand and the corner blocks. Widest availability of any bracket |
| Colin Bell Stand and side upper | £115 – £180 | A clean side-on view with the family sections nearby | Two-tier stand along the east side. Sensible for mixed-age groups |
| Lower tier, side positions | £165 – £255 | Supporters who want to be close to the pitch | Central lower-tier West Stand seats are among the closest in the ground |
| Premium seating | £240 – £400+ | Comfort, padded seating and a bar attached to the ticket | Covers the sports bar tiers rather than full dining. Drinks are usually paid separately |
| Hospitality and VIP | £400 – £900+ | Business guests or a matchday built around the food | Ranges from a served meal to pitchside dining. Limited inventory, sells out earliest |
Prices reflect typical resale ranges and may change as demand and availability shift closer to the match.
The Etihad is a four-sided bowl with genuinely different characters on each side, so the stand you pick shapes the afternoon more than the row does. The Etihad Stadium seating plan shows how the tiers stack around the pitch after the North Stand rebuild.
If you are building a trip around more than one match, the wider Etihad Stadium listings cover the ground's other fixtures across the season. The rebuilt north end, now named the Pep Guardiola Stand, added more than 7,000 general admission seats along with at least 3,000 rail seats for safe standing.
| Area | What It Suits | Pricing Bracket | Guidance |
|---|---|---|---|
| West Stand, lower tier central | Being as close to the pitch as the ground allows | Highest | Hospitality suites and executive boxes sit in this stand, so access routes are the quickest |
| South Stand, middle tier | Elevated central viewing with premium facilities | High | The stand went to three tiers in 2015. The middle tier carries most of its premium seating |
| Pep Guardiola Stand | Safe standing and the newest concourse in the ground | Medium to high | Rail seating means standing for the full match. Not the choice if you want to sit down |
| Colin Bell Stand | Side-on viewing with the family sections | Medium | Two tiers along the east side. The calmest part of the ground for younger supporters |
| South Stand, upper tier | The widest view of the pitch at the lowest price | Lowest | Steep and high, though the sightlines stay clean. The 1894 Group sit in the lower tier below |
| South-east corner away section | Hull City supporters, segregated with a dedicated concourse | Low to medium | At least 3,000 seats under league rules, entered via L1 to L3. Hull colours belong here and nowhere else in the ground |
Returning visitors should recalibrate. Anyone whose last trip here was before 2017 will find a ground that has grown at both ends, with a third tier on the South Stand since 2015 and the rebuilt north end since last season. The bowl is taller, louder and noticeably steeper in the upper reaches than the stadium Hull last played in.
Neutral buyers and mixed groups do best in the Colin Bell Stand or the upper tier of the South Stand. Both keep you clear of the organised singing sections and both give a full view of the pitch. Neither carries the premium attached to the West Stand. Families tend to settle on the same side for the same reasons.
City run one of the deeper hospitality operations in English football, spread across sports bars, restaurants, inclusive suites and private boxes. The range matters here because a fixture in this bracket is one of the few where premium inventory is actually obtainable rather than swallowed by annual commitments.
| Hospitality Option | Typical Buyer | Main Appeal |
|---|---|---|
| Sports bar tiers | Supporters upgrading from general admission | Padded seating with a bar attached, though drinks are usually charged separately |
| Restaurant packages such as Citizens or Legends | Groups marking an occasion | A pre-match carvery or brasserie menu with a reserved table before kickoff |
| The Chairman's Club | Corporate guests hosting clients | Multi-course dining with champagne on arrival, typically from 600 pounds a head |
| Tunnel Club and private boxes | Buyers who want the ground's most exclusive vantage point | Players' tunnel viewing or a private suite, with inclusive drinks in the higher tiers |
The trade-off is the same everywhere: hospitality commits earliest. Buyers who wait for a late release usually find the inclusive suites gone and only premium seating left. If the food matters more than the price, move early in the window rather than late.
On accessibility, the ground carries wheelchair positions with companion seating across all stands. The league requires visiting clubs to receive a proportion of that provision alongside the standard allocation. Numbers are still finite, so arrange these well ahead rather than close to the date.
Premier League entry has moved almost entirely to digital. Most City tickets arrive on a phone or load onto a card, so the delivery line on your listing is the first thing to read before you compare prices.
| Delivery Type | What to Check |
|---|---|
| Mobile ticket | The listing names the app or wallet used. Keep the phone charged, because a screenshot will not scan |
| Smartcard or season card | Confirm how and when the card reaches you, since these need physical handover rather than a download |
| Local collection | Check the collection point, the hours it opens and what identification you need to bring |
| Courier delivery | Make sure someone can sign for the parcel before the match, particularly on overseas orders |
Plan the approach as carefully as the ticket. Turnstiles open two hours before kickoff and supporters are asked to arrive at least an hour before. Bags larger than A4 are not admitted, with a paid bag drop in the Grey car park for anything bigger. Under-14s must be accompanied by an adult, which is worth checking before you buy for a family group.
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Step1
Open the fixture listing
Start on the December listing and confirm the date and venue line. City play several competitions at the Etihad, so make sure you are on the league fixture.
Step2
Set up your account
Browsing needs nothing, but you will need to create an account to complete a purchase and to keep the order details together afterwards.
Step3
Pick your stand first
Decide between the West Stand, the Colin Bell Stand, the South Stand tiers or the rebuilt north end before you filter on price. The stands differ more than the rows within them.
Step4
Set the quantity early
This fixture is one of the better ones for groups, since City allow members four tickets each rather than one. Set your number before comparing, because that changes what is worth looking at.
Step5
Read the listing notes in full
Delivery method, restricted view flags, rail seating, seats-together confirmation and age conditions all sit here. Two listings at the same price are often not the same product.
Step6
Check the rail seating detail
The north end carries safe standing, which means standing for the full ninety minutes. If anyone in your group needs a seat, filter that section out before you buy.
Step7
Complete the secure checkout
Confirm the stand, quantity, delivery method and total before authorising payment. Your confirmation email is the record of exactly what you agreed.
Step8
Follow the order through
Use track order to watch the status to delivery. Check again in the week before the match in case the kickoff slot moves for television.
Manchester is one of the easier English away days to reach from abroad. Manchester Airport connects directly to the city centre by rail in around twenty minutes, with the Etihad on the tram network a short ride east of Piccadilly.
If you are having physical tickets shipped internationally, allow time for a signed delivery. If that window looks tight, choose a mobile or collection listing instead.
December in the north-west is wet more often than it is cold. A 15:00 kickoff in the week before Christmas finishes in darkness. Every seat at the Etihad is covered, so rain is less of a factor here than at some grounds, but the walk in from the tram is exposed. Pack accordingly rather than trusting the forecast.
Two things to settle before you pay. Seats-together requests have to be made at the point of purchase, because sellers list seats in fixed blocks that cannot be rearranged afterwards. And leave slack in flight bookings: a Saturday fixture selected for television can move to a different hour or, occasionally, a different day.
Visitors making the trip often build a longer weekend around it, since the city carries two Premier League clubs a few miles apart. Manchester United are the obvious second fixture if the calendar lines up, with no change of hotel required.
There is no rivalry here, so pretending otherwise would be dishonest. What there is instead is a record so lopsided it has become the story: in five Premier League visits to the Etihad, Hull City have never won. Three defeats, two draws, twelve goals conceded against four scored.
The fixture has produced one genuine hammering and two stubborn afternoons, which is a more interesting spread than the raw record suggests. Hull's two points both came from 1-1 draws, in 2009 and again in 2015. On each occasion they frustrated a City side that was expected to win comfortably. That is the template a promoted club brings to a ground like this.
The return fixture at the MKM Stadium in February gives Hull the friendlier half of the pairing. For a club in its first season back, a point in Manchester before Christmas would be worth considerably more than the table suggests.
What makes this edition distinctive is everything around the fixture rather than the fixture itself. A promoted club returning after nine years; a rebuilt stadium roughly 7,000 seats larger than the one Hull last visited; a home club whose own ticketing rules make this one of the more open dates of the season. That combination does not come around often.
All figures below cover Premier League meetings at the Etihad Stadium with Manchester City as hosts.
| Metric | Total |
|---|---|
| Matches played | 5 |
| Manchester City wins | 3 |
| Hull City wins | 0 |
| Draws | 2 |
| Manchester City goals | 12 |
| Hull City goals | 4 |
| Biggest Manchester City win | 5-1 |
| Biggest Hull City win | None recorded in this scope |
| First Premier League meeting in scope | 26 December 2008 |
| Most recent meeting in scope | 8 April 2017 |
Totals calculated from the verified match-by-match record below. Cup meetings at this ground and all fixtures in Hull are excluded from this scope.
| Date | Score |
|---|---|
| 08 Apr 2017 | 3-1 |
| 07 Feb 2015 | 1-1 |
| 31 Aug 2013 | 2-0 |
| 28 Nov 2009 | 1-1 |
| 26 Dec 2008 | 5-1 |
Scores listed Manchester City first. Every result cross-checked against at least two independent match reports.
Yes. City restrict their marquee fixtures to one ticket per member, while dates in this bracket allow four, so more seats circulate and resale supply is healthier.
League rules require at least 3,000 for a stadium of this size, plus a share of accessible seating. Those go to the visiting club to distribute among its own supporters.
The rebuilt north end carries at least 3,000 rail seats for safe standing, which means standing throughout. Filter those blocks out if anyone in your group needs to sit.
Bags must be no larger than A4 size. Anything bigger needs the paid bag drop in the Grey car park, so travel light or budget the extra time.
More easily than at most Etihad fixtures, because of the four-ticket member limit on dates in this bracket. Set the quantity before comparing, since fixed blocks cannot be rearranged after checkout.
Sources: official Manchester City club pages for the ticketing and membership structure, North Stand expansion, hospitality range and away supporter guidance; the Premier League for fixture scheduling, promotion detail and away allocation rules; StadiumDB for stadium capacity and construction history; and match reporting from Sky Sports, Manchester City match reports and Fox Sports for the verified head-to-head results and attendance.