Ticket prices soar at $11,000 for Messi vs Ronaldo clash in Saudi Arabia
The generation-defining rivalry between football superstars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo will take the center stage once again as the two lock heads on Thursday when Inter Miami takes on Al Nassr in the Riyadh Cup in Saudi Arabia’s capital city.
Titled ‘The Last Dance,’ the match tickets went on sale earlier last week with prices going up to a whopping $11,214 for Platinum seating, according to seatpick.com.
However, football fans need not splurge thousands of dollars to witness the Messi vs Ronaldo marvel – the ticket prices start from $200.
Expensive tickets are not uncommon for football fixtures featuring big names like Messi and Ronaldo.
Last year, a Saudi Arabian businessman bid $2.6 million (10 million riyals) in an auction and won a ticket to see Ronaldo and Messi face off in a friendly between Paris SaintGermain and Al Nassr.
Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority at the time said on Twitter that Musharraf al-Ghamdi, general manager of real estate group Aqar One, was the highest bidder for a “Beyond Imagination” ticket. Messi’s affinity to Saudi has been in the limelight since the Argentine player became a brand ambassador for Saudi Tourism.
In his latest campaign, he can be seen breaking stereotypes linked to the Kingdom by smashing metaphorical walls with stereotypical labels on them with his football.
“What I love about Saudi is that I always discover what I never expected,” he said in the video.
Earlier, Argentinian football star Lionel Messi broke down common misconceptions surrounding Saudi Arabia in latest promotional campaign pushing for tourism in the Kingdom, calling on people to go beyond what they think.
Messi, who is the tourism ambassador of Saudi Arabia, starred in the powerful campaign that began with him approaching several walls, with the first carrying “Just a Desert” as a statement.
Messi then goes ahead and strikes the first wall that is broken to show the audience views from the Red Sea with the beautiful clear blue waters, marine life, the mountains of Aseer, the snow in Tabuk.