Offer of 1.5 million for tickets in Argentina’s first match since the World Cup

Tickets for Argentina’s first match since lifting the World Cup sold out as more than 1.5 million people tried to buy them despite high prices in a country battling soaring inflation.

The match between Argentina and Panama will be played on March 23 at the Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires, the largest in the country with a capacity for 83,000 spectators.

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Ticket prices, which range between 12,000 and 49,000 Argentine pesos (between 59 and 241 dollars), did not discourage demand with a virtual queue of 1,550,000 people.

The desire to see Lionel Messi’s team also spread to the local and international press. The president of the Argentine Football Association, Claudio Tapia, said the match generated the “greatest media demand in history” with more than 131,000 requests for accreditation.

“We would love to be able to meet everyone, but we would need two River (Monumental) stadiums, only for journalists. The madness for Argentina is absolute,” Tapia said on Twitter.

The friendly will be Argentina’s first game in front of their fans since they beat France on penalties in last year’s World Cup final in Qatar to win the title for the first time in 36 years and spark massive celebrations across the country. country.

Argentina also hosts Curaçao on March 28 in the province of Santiago del Estero in front of 30,000 fans.