Fans are eager to see Lionel Messi and his teammates play. Photo: Reuters.
Bloomberg reported that tickets to the friendly match between Argentina and Panama in Buenos Aires on March 23 were sold out in 2.5 hours. Despite the Monumental stadium’s capacity of about 80,000 seats, online ticketing sites in Argentina still receive more than 1.3 million orders from fans.
The friendly match organizers announced that the cheapest ticket price is about 30 USD, while the VIP ticket is 130 USD. La Nacion said fans have to find “black market” tickets for more than 300 USD to enter the field to watch Lionel Messi and his teammates play.
Claudio Tapia, president of the Argentine Football Federation, revealed that he received more than 131,000 job offers around the world in the friendly match against Panama. “We want to meet people’s needs but we would probably have to rent two stadiums to do this,” Tapia said.
The confrontation with Panama is also the first match Argentina plays as the World Cup champion in 2022. Lionel Scaloni’s teachers and students won the gold cup in Qatar after 36 years of waiting. This is the most important event in Argentina in 2022. After the match against Panama, “Albicelestes” has another friendly match against Curacao on March 28 at the Santiago del Estero stadium, which has a capacity of 30,000 fans.
After that, Argentina will return troops to the club and focus again in early June within the framework of FIFA Days. According to the expected schedule, “Albicelestes” will go to Asia to play a friendly match with Bangladesh and an unspecified team.
Vice President of the Indonesian Football Federation (PSSI), Zainudin Amali, said that he was planning to invite Argentina to a friendly match: “PSSI is negotiating with the football federations. In the immediate future, we will face the Palestinian team. in June. PSSI also invited Argentina to play. However, everything is still planned.”
The June FIFA Days series takes place from June 12 to 20. This is the time when the top European leagues close. The Argentina team is also in the process of preparing for the Copa America 2024 and the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
Duy Luan | 12:48 March 18, 2023
