Empty seats seen at World Cup game after controversy over ticket prices
A lot empty seats Can be seen during Thursday’s World Cup match South Korea and Czech Republic It raised questions about FIFA’s approach to record ticket prices for the tournament.
It was seen that most of the empty seats were in the VIP sections near the field. AthleticIt was stated that there were thousands of empty seats in the stadium.
Football’s governing body, FIFA, reported a crowd of 44,985 at Mexico’s 46,000-capacity Guadalajara Stadium. It has not been confirmed whether the figure is based on ticket sales or the number of fans entering the ground.
Tournament ticket prices The costs have increased fivefold compared to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, according to the European Football Fans’ Group (FSE), which described it as “exorbitant”. FSE noted that World Cup organizers promised tickets as low as $21 in the 2018 tender document.
FIFA defended ticket prices for this year’s tournament.
(Reuters/REUTERS)
attorneys general of New York and New Jersey We launched an investigation into “incredibly high prices”. The tournament is held in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino defended the pricing strategy as recently as Wednesday, saying costs were comparable to other major sporting events. “If we do something wrong, then probably everyone selling tickets in North America is doing something wrong.” he added.
According to the Associated Press, on the eve of the tournament, 29 games were sold out and 75 had tickets remaining.
About 180,000 tickets were still available on FIFA’s official resale platform on Tuesday. Finance Times “The average ticket price dropped 20 percent last month,” he said. World Cup tickets are also sold on third-party sales sites such as StubHub and SeatGeek.
Following the criticism, FIFA offered national associations a smaller number of $60 tickets to all 104 matches for their regular fans. Infantino said 130,000 tickets were offered in this category.
He said more tickets will be available closer to the games. “We also always have to keep some tickets for teams that qualify for additional rounds,” he added.
A crowd of 80,824 attended the opening match between Mexico and South Africa in Mexico City early Thursday, the AP said.
