According to organizers, tickets for Chinese football fans to watch Argentina’s Lionel Messi lead them against Australia in a Beijing friendly will cost up to $680.
Argentina and Australia will play each other again on June 15 at the 68,000-seat Workers’ Stadium in a rematch of their World Cup of Qatar round of 16 encounter.
Argentina won 2-1 thanks to a goal from Messi, who is expected to leave Paris Saint-Germain this summer. Argentina went on to win the World Cup.
Organizers announced that tickets will be made available in two batches on June 5 and 8, with prices ranging from 580 yuan ($82) to 4,800 yuan.
Disgruntled fans online quickly decried the prices for the exhibition game.
“I’m reporting you for robbery,” one user on the Twitter-like Weibo commented on the organisers’ official account.
“For 4,800, will Messi carry us on his back while he plays?” wrote another.
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It will be Messi’s first visit to China since 2017.
Strict steps are being taken to prevent scalping, with spectators required to provide identification information and show ID cards or passports to enter the stadium.
But merchants on China’s Taobao shopping platform immediately began offering booking services for the tickets, with one seller charging 18,000 yuan for what they claimed was access to VIP seats.
International sport has only just begun to return to China after Beijing abruptly ditched strict virus curbs late last year.
AFP
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