Tickets for the first match of the Argentine national team since winning the FIFA World Cup in Qatar witnessed a crazy turnout, as more than one and a half million fans flocked to buy tickets despite their high prices in a country suffering from severe financial hardship.
Argentina’s match against Panama will be held on March 23 at the Monumental Stadium in Buenos Aires, which is the largest stadium in the country, with a capacity of 83,000 spectators.
The demand for tickets did not diminish, despite their high price, which ranges between 12,000 and 49,000 Argentine pesos ($ 59 to $ 241), as purchase requests reached 1,550,000 requests.
The passion for watching Lionel Messi and his companions also extended to the local and international media, as the president of the Argentine Football Association, Claudio Tapia, said that the match witnessed “the highest media request in history, with more than 131,000 accreditation requests.”
“Hopefully we can fulfill all these requests but we need two stadiums with Monumental capacity for journalists only. The desire to watch Argentina is beyond crazy,” Tapia said on Twitter.
The friendly match will be the first confrontation for the Argentine national team in front of its fans since its victory over France on penalties in the World Cup final last year in Qatar, to win the title for the first time in 36 years.
Argentina will also host Curaçao on March 28 in Santiagodel Estero, in front of 30,000 spectators.