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Agence France-Presse

Chinese football fans will need to shell out up to US$680 to see Lionel Messi lead Argentina against Australia in a Beijing friendly, organisers said on Friday.
The game on June 15 at the 68,000-capacity Workers’ Stadium is a rematch of the meeting between Argentina and Australia in the last 16 of last year’s World Cup in Qatar.
Messi, who is set to leave Paris Saint-Germain this summer, scored in a 2-1 win for Argentina and they went on to lift the World Cup.
Tickets ranging from 580 yuan (US$82) to 4,800 yuan will go on sale in two batches, on June 5 and 8, organisers said.

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.
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 the country’s government abruptly ditched strict coronavirus curbs late last year.


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Chinese football fans cry ‘robbery’ at US$680 tickets to see Lionel Messi in Argentina v Australia friendly

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Sport

Football

China

Ticket details announced for friendly at 68,000-capacity Workers’ Stadium on June 15
Prices are criticised on Weibo, while steps are taken to prevent touts cashing in as some start offering ‘VIP seats’ on Taobao shopping platform


Criticism greets announcement of ticket details for friendly on June 15, while steps are taken to prevent touts cashing in as some start offering ‘VIP seats’ on Taobao.


Lionel Messi