If you’re wondering if West Ham Membership is worth it, we’ve made a complete guide, covering every membership tier and what each one gives you.
Our Guide to West Ham Membership
With a giant stadium, world-class players and European success, we all know that West Ham United are massive these days. West Ham Membership is one way to get closer to the club, and comes with a number of benefits. In our detailed guide, we’ll tell you all about being a WHUFC Member, from Claret Membership up to the Seasonal Club London Membership for luxury hospitality. We will also weigh up West Ham Membership vs purchasing West Ham Tickets on the secondary market.
West Ham United Membership Types
As opposed to other Premier League clubs that have several tiers of memberships, West Ham keep things simple when it comes to memberships for General Admission. Claret Membership is the one for adults, and then there are two tiers for younger Irons fans.
West Ham Claret Membership
This is a universal adult membership with a lineup of benefits, the biggest being a 24-hour priority sales window for West Ham tickets. That window only counts for WHUFC Premier League matches, but it does also come with a £5 discount on the ticket price. Among the other perks for West Ham Members are:
- A welcome pack with gifts like a scarf and pin badge
- Discounts at the Official West Ham Shop
- Invitations to exclusive West Ham events
- Exclusive Member competitions
- Receipt of an official newsletter
- A discount on tours of the London Stadium
And how much is West Ham Claret membership? This membership tier costs £40 a season and is sold year by year. You will need to actively renew your membership to continue receiving these benefits.
West Ham Claret Kids Membership
Then for children between the ages of 5 and 18 there’s an age-specific tier with the same access to tickets available to West Ham Claret Members. Added to that, West Ham Claret Kids Membership offers a variety of extra perks:
- Junior welcome pack with a drawstring bag, water bottle and autograph book
- Retail discounts at the Official West Ham Shop
- Invitations to exclusive Claret Kids events
- Entry to exclusive Member competitions
- Discounts on stadium tours
- Exclusive newsletter
As for the price, West Ham Claret Kids Membership costs £25 for the season.
West Ham Iron Born Membership
To get littlest members of the family started with their West Ham support, there’s West Ham Iron Born Membership. Also costing £25, this tier is available for kids up to the age of four and will be valid for every season until the holder turns five. Tickets don’t factor into Westham Iron Born Membership, but there are plenty of perks to consider:
- A West Ham-branded welcome pack with an Iron Born lunchbox, plate, cutlery, and beaker
- Prize draws for memorabilia, signed shirts, and one-of-a-kind experiences
- Invitations to West Ham events like Family Fun day
- A Monthly e-newsletter, with content aimed at small children
- Retail offers and discounts in the Official West Ham Shop
- Four 10% discount codes issued throughout the season
West Ham Season Tickets
If you want to get your hands on a West Ham Season Ticket you will need to be patient as these sell out every year, and there’s a waiting list. Still, one of the great things about the massive capacity at London Stadium is the large allocation of season tickets.
There are 55,000 West Ham Season ticket holders, more than any other club in the league. This helps the waiting list move quite quickly, and you can expect to be offered a West Ham United Season Ticket about two years after joining the list.
The West Ham Season Ticket is a different scheme to West Ham Membership, and you can enroll by paying £10 and joining the West Ham Priority List.
If you do qualify, you’ll be paying for one of the cheapest season tickets in the Premier League, ranging from £345 to £1,175 for Adult General Admission seats. For a more in-depth look on this topic, we have a page devoted to the WHUFC Season Ticket waiting list.
West Ham Season Ticket Benefits
Hammers who are lucky enough to buy West Ham Season Tickets are eligible for a wide range of benefits that Claret Members just don’t get. These include:
- Guaranteed seats for Premier League home matches
- The ability to relist your seat on the West Ham Ticket Exchange
- Priority access to tickets for domestic cups, away fixtures and European games
- Priority access to extra tickets for all games before they reach General Sale
- Priority access to West Ham United Women's team matches held at London Stadium
- Free admission to West Ham’s home games in Premier League 2
- 10% off club apparel at Official West Ham Shop
- Discounts on London Stadium Tours
- You can upgrade Junior & Concession seats to Adult seats
- Upgrade offers to West Ham’s Club London hospitality tier
West Ham 1966 Season Tickets
If you’re willing to fork out a little more on your West Ham Season Ticket, there’s a premium level, with superior views in the West Stand and the Billy Bonds Stand. This is the 1966 Season Ticket, costing from £1,445 to £1,720. You get all of the perks of a General Admission West Ham Season Ticket, but there are a few extras as well. These are:
- Comfy padded seating
- Your name on a plaque on your seat
- A complimentary programme for every game
- Access to exclusive manager and player events
Does Becoming a West Ham Member Guarantee Me Tickets?
The answer to this question is a firm “no”. What WHUFC Claret Membership does give you is an opportunity to jump the queue and secure tickets before they go on General Sale.
This is a valuable advantage if you’re hunting for West Ham tickets for the biggest matches of the season. Think, London derbies, and when the likes of Liverpool and Manchester United come to the London Stadium.
Can I Become a West Ham Member at any Point in the Season?
Yes, there’s no cap on West Ham Claret Membership. All the same, the ideal time to purchase a West Ham membership is in the summer before the season starts to make that £40 investment go as far as possible.
Unlike with West Ham Season Tickets, there’s no waiting list to become a West Ham Claret Member.
WHUFC Away Ticket Scheme
Open only to West Ham United Season Ticket holders, the West Ham Away Ticket Scheme allows fans to accrue points for priority access to tickets for West Ham away games. The Hammers are known for their big away following, so these tickets are always hard to get hold of.
In short, you earn points by attending games. West Ham Away Ticket Scheme points are for the long term as they roll over from season to season. In addition to away league games, domestic cups (home and away) and European games (home and away) also give points in this scheme.
So one way for West Ham Away Ticket Scheme members to earn more points is by purchasing tickets for home domestic cup games and home games in Europe (if West Ham qualify).
If you’re a West Ham Season Ticket holder who wants to follow the Hammer home and away, the answer is to stay alert and snap up tickets for any away game that becomes available. That way you will slowly move up the ladder and stand a better chance of getting hold of West Ham away tickets by priority.
Away Tickets are allocated according to Priority Points in descending order. The remaining 10% are made available to West Ham Season Ticket holders via a ballot.
What Are West Ham United Bondholders?
WHUFC has a contingent of long-term Bondholders. These are people who purchased bonds in the club at £500, £750 and £950 to help fund a redevelopment of the old Boleyn Ground.
What happened was that, in order to meet government guidelines, the stadium was converted to an all-seater venue in the early 1990s following the Hillsborough disaster. The club raised the money for this project by issuing bonds. The scheme came to a close in 1997, but there are still a lot of Bondholders in the WHUFC fanbase.
The reason why we’re mentioning West Ham Bondholders here is because they’re still entitled to a range of benefits, some 30 years later.
These include priority access to General Admission tickets (including domestic cups), and season tickets. Crucially, Bondholders also get priority access to away tickets before people on the West Ham Away Ticket Scheme.
West Ham Away Season Tickets
We’ve seen how difficult it is to buy West Ham away tickets, but there’s also a limited number of West Ham Away Season Tickets. These are extremely scarce and a lot of Irons fans want to get their hands on them. In fact, the demand outstrips the supply so much that in 2022 the club announced that it wasn’t even accepting new entrants to the waiting list until further notice.
West Ham Club London Seasonal Membership
To enjoy West Ham United matches at the London Stadium in style and comfort, there’s a selection of exclusive lounges offering seasonal membership under the Club London umbrella. You have to join a waiting list for Club London Seasonal Membership, but the good news is that you will likely be offered a spot at one of the lounges in the following season.
Starting at around £2,000 a season, all of the lounges are found in the West Stand, and tend to benefit from the best views of the pitch. Seasonal Membership means tickets for every home league game, as well as a number of home matches in the domestic cups.
You get access to these lounges before and after games, as well as a ton of benefits. A few of these are:
- VIP padded seating
- Meet-and-greets with Irons legends
- Complimentary match programmes
- Access to the many other events taking place at London Stadium
West Ham Club London Lounges
Club London occupies a large strip along the middle tier of the West Stand, with sections in the lower and upper tiers on the halfway line. In general, the closer you get to the Directors Box, the more exclusive the experience. Here’s a rundown of the various experiences in descending order of luxury:
- The Boleyn and The Londoner are casual sports bars, primed for pre- and post-match drinks and light snacks.
- The Great Briton is a restaurant with flexible dining thanks to a variety of chef stations
- The Forge is an informal three-course dining restaurant, complemented by seats on the halfway line
- Royal East is a fine-dining lounge, with three-course meals, floor-to-ceiling windows and some of the best views in the ground
- Arnold Hills, next to the Directors Box,offers à la carte fine dining
- Executive Boxes are a different dimension in luxury, with waiter service, champagne on arrival, insights from a first-team player, a framed signed shirt and a chance to play at the West Ham training ground,
- BM6 is the last word in West Ham premium hospitality, with panoramic views, visits from West Ham legends, waiter service, a luxury à la carte, two signed items and tickets for all home league and cup games
Which West Ham Legends Can You Meet in Club London?
As we mentioned, one of the bonuses of attending games in West Ham’s Club London sections is the opportunity to rub shoulders with some true West Ham heroes. Known as Matchday Ambassadors, there’s a large team of former players assigned to the hospitality section. You will see them mingling, greeting supporters, and sharing some fascinating anecdotes about their days wearing the claret and blue.
Some of the legends mingling with fans in recent seasons include:
- Tony Cottee, who scored 146 goals for the club in two spells
- Tony Gale, the defender who played for the club exactly 300 times, earning two promotions
- Keith Robson, a striker who scored a crucial goal in the 1976 Cup Winners’ Cup Semi-Final
- John Moncur, a stalwart midfielder who played more than 200 times for the Irons in the mid-90s
- David Cross, who scored in the famous FA Cup Final win against Arsenal in 1980
These are some big names from more than a dozen West Ham Legends making appearances in Club London. They appear on a revolving basis, so there are no guarantees about who you will see, but it’s something that adds another layer of prestige to West Ham’s hospitality lounges.
Buying WHUFC Tickets with Claret Membership
For most adults, the main benefit of West Ham Claret Membership is that 24-hour priority window when tickets go on sale, about six weeks before a fixture. This is an opportunity to snag tickets for Premier League games through the official box office.
It’s worth remembering that there are 55,000 West Ham Season Ticket holders in a 62,500-capacity ground (minus 2,800 away fans). So to snag your West Ham tickets this way, you will need to be fast, and prepared to sacrifice some time waiting in an online queue for the most important games. Another official option is the WHUFC Ticket Exchange, which we’ll talk about later.
Can I Get Access to West Ham Hospitality with Claret Membership?
Unfortunately, being a West Ham Claret Member doesn’t help you get tickets for Club London’s various lounges. If you’re up for watching a one-off match in these areas you’ll need to pay the full price via the club’s authorized hospitality reseller. We have a complete London Stadium seating guide highlighting where these premium seats can be found.
If you don’t see the point in purchasing Westham Claret Membership for the full season, we offer tickets for all West Ham games. With Ticket Compare we offer seats across the stadium, so make sure to check out our West Ham ticket page.
Buying West Ham Tickets without Membership
Something unique about West Ham compared to other London clubs is how small the window is for members to access tickets. Once that 24-hour priority window is closed, West Ham Tickets go on general sale.
This is the first opportunity to purchase West Ham tickets from the club box office without a membership. There are a few drawbacks of course. The big one is that the supply is extremely limited for most games, and non-existent for the most important fixtures. On the rare occasion that West Ham Tickets go on general sale, they will all be gone in no time.
Buying West Ham Tickets on the Ticket Exchange
Another way that West Ham United differs from other big Premier League clubs is how it manages its Ticket Exchange. This is a platform for West Ham Season Ticket holders to sell their seat to fans who have been unable to get a ticket through Claret Membership or General Sale. The West Ham Ticket Exchange remains open until three hours before kick-off.
The headline is that you don’t need to be a West Ham Member to access the Ticket Exchange. A further quirk of this platform is that West Ham Season Ticket holders lose 10% of the face value of their seat thanks to a Ticketmaster administration charge when they successfully relist their seat via the Ticket Exchange.
Buying West Ham Tickets on the Secondary Market
So, say you need to get West Ham vs Spurs tickets or West Ham vs Chelsea tickets without membership. The truth is that the match will sell out extremely quickly. After West Ham Season Ticket Holders, Bondholders and Claret Members have had their chance, these matches won’t go on general sale.
Meanwhile, very few West Ham Season Ticket holders will relist their seats on the WHUFC Ticket Exchange. So in these circumstances your best option is the secondary market.
Ticket Compare lets you choose from a number of trusted marketplaces, allowing you to secure tickets for even the biggest fixtures. If you’re travelling to London for a West Ham match and want to ensure that you’ve got tickets, the secondary market and resellers make more sense.
