Belgian side Gent are due to play host to West Ham in the first leg of their Europa Conference League quarter-final tie on Thursday.
West Ham are struggling in the Premier League, but remain in real contention to win the Europa Conference League, with the other teams still involved being Gent, Basel, Nice, Lech Poznan, Fiorentina, Anderlecht and AZ Alkmaar.
Hammers fans have taken 1,007 tickets for the clash in Belgium, but Piens is clear that if there had been more on offer then West Ham would have taken them.
He feels the demand for tickets from West Ham shows that they are a big club and revealed a conversation with his counterpart at West Ham.
“Right after the draw”, Piens explained to Belgian daily Het Nieuwsblad, “I contacted my colleague at West Ham.
“Supposed we had an infinitely large stadium, I asked him, how many supporters would you be able to bring?
“Around 12,000 to 15,000 he guessed.
“That is obviously not realistic, but it shows that we are dealing with a big club here.
“We even expect several hundred away supporters without a ticket, who will follow the match in a Gent pub; that is a tradition at West Ham.”
Gent have been given and sold 3,290 tickets for the second leg of the tie at the London Stadium.
The Belgian side’s Ghelamco Arena holds just over 20,000.
