Will it be sold out again this time, or will there be empty seats.
Expectations are mixed for the success of the soccer A match against Palestine at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on September 5.
The match, which will be led by new national soccer team coach Hong Myung-bo (55), is drawing more attention than ever in that it is the first match of the third qualifying round that will determine the advancement to the 2026 North Korea-China World Cup finals.
However, there are growing calls among fans to boycott the Palestinian war.
The reason is that the Korea Football Association has increased ticket prices for some seats ahead of the match against Palestine. If you look at ticket prices for the match against Palestine, which started on Tuesday, most of the seats including premium table seats (350,000 won or 3.51 U.S. dollars), first-class S-zone (180,000 won or 3.51 dollars), and third-class seats (30,000 won or 3.51 dollars) are the same as the previous ones.
However, red seats, which are mainly supported by the Red Devils, the official supporters of the Korean national soccer team, have been raised from 35,000 won (31 U.S. dollars) to 50,000 won (51 dollars), while second-class areas S, A, and B have been increased by 10,000 won (51 dollars), respectively, to be priced at 50,000 to 70,000 won (53 dollars). When considering red seats, the increase in the number of seats will reach a whopping 43 percent.
The association puts forward guidelines of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) that prohibit price discrimination on home teams and away fans’ seats as a justification for ticket price hikes. According to AFC’s 2023 tournament operation manual, Article 48, Paragraph 2 states that “home teams should cooperate so that AFC, AFC partners and opposing teams can purchase tickets at the same price.”
“To be precise, it can be seen as a recommendation rather than a regulation,” an association official said. “In the past, away cheering seats were more expensive than red seats, which can be said to be home team cheering seats, so we decided to match this part on the same line,” he said. “As the association is not supported by fans these days, there are misunderstandings and speculations that it has raised the price to resolve the penalty for former coach Jurgen Klinsmann.”
The association explained that raising ticket prices was not a one-way street. The association consulted with the Red Devils, who were hit the hardest by the hike, and raised the price with an agreement.
“The price of red seats (on the first floor of N seats) has not been raised since 2022. The red devil also raised the price to 50,000 won (approx. The rest of the second-class seats were also raised by 10,000 won (approx.
The association expects the increase in ticket sales to increase the total amount of admission to the Seoul World Cup Stadium by about 300 million won. Considering that the total amount of ticket sales was around 3.4 billion won when it was the previous rate, the total increase in admission sales is about 9%. The association is determined to cover the recent increase in labor costs with this increase in profits, while investing in fan services such as play zones installed near the stadium. 안전놀이터
Nevertheless, the association is concerned that the price hike will be a chance to lose the fan sentiment that began to fill the stands starting with the victory in the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games. The Palestinian match is the starting point for the departure of the Hong Myung-bo to North and Central America, so it is a time when concerns are deepening.