There are only two weeks left before the Argentine national team led by Messi comes to China. But so far, the only thing that has been determined in this game has been Argentina's itinerary - they will play a warm-up match against Australia at the Beijing Workers' Stadium on June 15, and there has been no official information about the tickets that fans are most concerned about.
From the rumors to the official announcement of the competition, this sports feast has undergone too many changes and adjustments. Today, we will take a look at the "hot" game from the four aspects of tickets, participating teams, host venues and related information.
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Wen / Song Xinyu
Edited / Guo Yang
On May 28, Beijing time, the Argentina men's national football team announced on its official website the list of players who came to China to participate in the International Invitational Tournament, among which Enzo, McAllister, Alvarez and other players who are the main members of the World Cup champions are all listed, and Messi, who Chinese fans care about the most, will also go to China with the team.
From the first news of the Argentine team's coming to China in early February to the final official announcement of all parties, countless reversals and rumors have been refuted, so that the attention and topic of this game remain high. Even today, news about "this game may be canceled", "sky-high tickets", and "Messi's handshake will be 50,000 people" are still circulating in the market.
With two weeks to go before the International Football Tournament between Argentina and Australia, China Hongqiao International Investment Co., Ltd., the organizer of the "Argentina China Tour", has still not released ticket information for this match.
To this end, we have visited many parties to restore the ins and outs behind this game as much as possible.
Tickets are undoubtedly the biggest concern for fans.
The official ticket information that fans have been waiting for has never been seen, and the "scalper advance tickets" and "Messi photo tickets" sold at high prices on various platforms have not only misled many uninformed fans, but also triggered foreign media reports.
Until May 23, China Hongqiao International Investment Co., Ltd. officially issued a statement, saying that the event tickets have not been officially sold, nor authorized any third-party platform for pre-sale, calling on fans to pay attention to the company's official release of ticketing news, and issued a statement again on the 24th promising that the relevant ticket information will be officially announced next week.
Today (May 30), Beijing time, a schematic map of the ticket information of this match was exposed on the Internet, which triggered countless fans' expectations for the official official ticket.
The picture comes from the Internet and is for reference only
One day after the official announcement of becoming a sponsor, Yan'an Guobin Liquor launched a promotional campaign for commemorative wine on the 29th, and the three specifications of the product gave away a ticket worth 680 yuan, 1880 yuan and 3880 yuan respectively.
The picture comes from a screenshot of the official mini program of Yan'an Guobin Liquor Industry
So far, however, official ticketing channels have not been released. According to the online information mentioned above, except for the lowest level of 680 yuan, the other 7 levels of tickets all exceeded 1,000 yuan, and the most expensive reached 8880 yuan.
It is worth mentioning that as the opponent of Argentina's second match in the Asian tour, the head of the Indonesian Football Federation, Eric Tohir, also announced the ticket price of the match between Indonesia and Argentina today, and the tickets are divided into four levels:
Third class ticket: IDR 600,000 (about RMB 283);
Second class ticket: IDR 1.2 million (about RMB 567);
First class ticket: IDR 2.5 million (about RMB 1,182);
VIP ticket: IDR 4.25 million (about RMB 2009).
In 2014, when Messi led Argentina to face Neymar's Brazil in the Bird's Nest, the highest ticket price was 2999 yuan, and the lowest ticket price was 199 yuan.
Whether it is horizontal comparison or vertical comparison, the ticket price of Argentina vs Australia to China is amazing.
However, for fans, the official ticket price is only one aspect of the problem, and the delay in disclosing the official ticket sales information has increased the speculation of all parties, and also brought about the extremely active secondary market of tickets.
In many "scalper" channels, the ticket for this game has even been speculated to 5 figures, and the legendary "photo with Messi" rights are even more sky-high - however, no one knows whether such scalper tickets and group photo rights can really be implemented.
According to Krypton observations, the hotel rooms that Argentina is rumored to be staying at during the tournament are almost fully booked. There is no doubt that under the gimmick of "it may be the last time Messi will play in China", the heat of winning the World Cup has already ignited the pent-up enthusiasm of Chinese fans for a long time. The choice to bring Argentina to China also proves the unique vision of the organizers.
As of press time, no official ticket information has been released.
Why Argentina vs Australia
Since the news of Argentina's arrival in China has appeared in the public eye, "who will be the opponent of Argentina" has become the most concerned issue for fans for a long time. In the fans' expectations, the Chinese team is the absolute best candidate, and in fact, according to all sources, the match between Argentina and the Chinese team is also the original idea of the event organizers.
In recent years, coinciding with the anniversary year of the establishment of diplomatic relations with many countries, China has carried out a series of cooperation with Argentina, Spain, France and other countries, and the promotion of exchanges between the two countries through football exchange matches has also been part of the plan, and the Chinese Football Association has also restarted the overall plan of young national teams to stay in the ocean.
However, due to the epidemic, venues, schedules and other reasons, most of the envisaged events in this series have not actually advanced. Until August last year, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Argentina, Argentine Ambassador to China Niu Wangdao proposed the idea of inviting the Argentine national team to participate in the competition in China when inspecting the Xi'an International Football Center project in Xixian New Area.
Argentine Ambassador to China Niu Wangdao visited the Xi'an International Football Center project, and Li Dacan, chairman of China Hongqiao International Investment Co., Ltd., also participated in and attended the symposium (data map)
After Argentina won the World Cup last year, with the joint efforts of both sides, the Argentine Football Association agreed to make China the first stop of the national team's overseas trip after winning the championship, and China Hongqiao International Investment Co., Ltd., which has many years of operating experience and resources in South America, also successfully became the operator of this event.
According to sources, since the Xi'an International Football Center originally discussed has not yet been completed, the second idea for the match is to be held on the international break at the end of March as the opening match after the completion of another professional football stadium, the Beijing Workers Stadium.
However, on the one hand, since Argentina had already scheduled their opponents for the warm-up match in March this year long before the World Cup; On the other hand, the team will also be responsible for the Chinese Super League and the opening ceremony, and the schedule is relatively tight, so after many coordinations, the date of the match was finally chosen in mid-June, with Argentina vs Australia.
After the news was released, many people questioned on the Internet - why can't the Chinese team play for the world champion Argentina?
In fact, even without the obstacles of the warm-up opponent and the venue, this match between China and Argentina will be difficult to take shape.
The first is that the location of the Chinese team is difficult to place in Beijing.
It is true that Beijing has hosted many tournaments as an important home stadium for the Chinese team in history. However, with the construction and increase of stadiums in various places, the Chinese team began to arrange its home stadiums in cities that lacked top-league teams, and Changsha, Wuhan, Xi'an and other places took on the work of the Chinese team's home stadium. Since 2000, except for the 2004 Asian Cup, Beijing has only hosted one warm-up match between the Chinese men's football team and the Netherlands in 2013, and even the Chinese men's football team has not participated in an official match in the "Bird's Nest" of the National Stadium.
A practitioner engaged in the organization of the event also said: "Due to factors such as security and approval, the Chinese men's football team and the Chinese women's football team rarely choose Beijing when playing foreign-related matches, which is basically a consensus in the industry."
The warm-up match against the Dutch national team also became the only international warm-up match played by the Chinese men's football team in Beijing since 2000
Another reason is that for a long time in the preparation stage of the event, China Hongqiao International Investment Co., Ltd., as the organizer, has not had much substantive communication with the Chinese Football Association. According to Ma Dexing of Sports Weekly: Messi will lead the Argentine team to visit China, which is completely operated by a brokerage company, and has not formally contacted the Chinese Football Association, nor has there been an official letter or fax to the Chinese Football Association.
Something similar has happened before. In 2019, Bayern Munich announced on its official website that it would play a friendly match with the Chinese men's football team. At the time, according to Allianz Group, which facilitated the match, the Chinese men's football team would play a friendly match with Bayern Munich in the Bird's Nest on the evening of May 29, but the Chinese Football Association also said it did not know. The game ended up dead.
This time, although the Chinese team failed to play Argentina in Beijing, the organizers still had enough time to find alternative teams. Given the excitement of the match, from an Asian perspective, Japan and South Korea have already announced their opponents for the warm-up match in June, so Australia is a relatively ideal choice.
Thanks to the efforts of the organizers, the International Tournament between Argentina and Australia was finally promoted. James Johnson, CEO of the Australian Football Federation, also said on his official website: "I would like to thank the organizers for their ambition to organize this competition, and thank the Beijing Football Association, the Chinese Football Association, and the Chinese and Australian governments for their support. Our men's national team hasn't played in China for 15 years and we're really excited to travel to Beijing to face Argentina."
Why put it in the work
After many twists and turns, the competition finally landed in the new construction body, which is about to become the first commercial event held by the new work body.
It is understood that before the landing of the new work, the organizer once considered choosing the competition venue in the bird's nest. However, the lawn of the bird's nest is not enough to meet the requirements of an international competition, and if it is to be selected, it is necessary to bear a large amount of lawn laying costs.
Since the completion of the National Stadium in 2008, the Bird's Nest, where the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic and Paralympic Games were held, once became a landmark sports building integrating sports activities and public entertainment in Beijing. With a capacity of up to 91,000 spectators, the Bird's Nest has become the preferred venue for many international commercial events or Asian trips for top international teams.
In 2009, the Italian Super Cup moved to the Beijing Bird's Nest for the first time, and it was an unprecedented success, with ticket revenue alone reportedly generating more than 70 million yuan. This match demonstrated the unlimited potential of the Chinese market, not only allowing the next three Italian Super Cups to be held in China, but also allowing the Bird's Nest to attract more overseas teams and clubs. But it is worth mentioning that as one of the participating teams, Jose Mourinho, the then head coach of Inter Milan, expressed his dissatisfaction with the quality of the Bird's Nest turf in an interview.
In the following year's "Barça China Tour", after the match between the Bird's Nest and Beijing Guoan, Guardiola also put forward a similar point tactfully: "I hope that the next time I come to China, the venue conditions of the game can be better, and the fans also want to see us play in a better venue, and a beautiful stadium like the Bird's Nest should have a more perfect venue."
Therefore, before the second Italian Super Cup in 2011, the Bird's Nest completed the first lawn replacement after the Olympics, and it was reported that this time the Bird's Nest cost a total of nearly 500,000 yuan, equivalent to about 60 yuan per square meter. This is the only time the Nest has changed its lawn completely since 2008.
According to the product information identified by the official website of FIFA, a total of 7 companies in China can meet the international certification standards, among which Guangdong Aosheng artificial grass, which has cooperated with the bird's nest for outfield grass projects, its latest price of artificial turf is 110 yuan per square meter, and the quotation of natural turf that meets international mainstream standards has reached 500 yuan per square meter. This means that if you want to hold this game in the bird's nest, you will first need to spend 90-4 million to lay grass.
According to a former employee of the Bird's Nest LeEco Sports and Culture Industry Fund, due to the high maintenance cost and the fact that the nest is not used for football matches for a long time, the Bird's Nest has not carried out long-term daily maintenance of the football grass since 2015, when the lawn was replaced again in preparation for the World Championships in Athletics.
The story behind may be very familiar to everyone, on the day of the 2016 ICC (International Champions Cup) Beijing match, the organizers announced the cancellation of the Manchester United vs Manchester City derby, which was scheduled to be played at the National Stadium Bird's Nest. Although the official reason was bad weather, as many reports deepened, it was confirmed that it was actually because the quality of the lawn of the bird's nest was too bad to meet the normal needs of the competition.
Since then, the Bird's Nest has ceased to be the first choice for international competitions, and the 2017 London Super Derby Cup between Chelsea and Arsenal here became the last international football match ever played by the Bird's Nest.
Disappointed fans outside the Bird's Nest after ICC Manchester City derby cancelled
The new work does not have these problems. After the completion of the renovation and reconstruction, the new construction body has not only become an international first-class professional football stadium, but also reached the international leading level in terms of layout, structure and lighting design of the stadium.
In addition, from the debut of Beijing Satellite TV's New Year's Eve Gala to April, Xingongti has not held any commercial activities in the past six months to ensure the quality of the turf. According to Beijing Daily, after the new work body was put into use, Sinobo Group has successively rejected the business invitation of more than 10 top artists to hold concerts here.
Under this persistence, although only two of the five rounds of the Chinese Super League were held on weekends, the average attendance per game still reached more than 41,000, topping all 16 divisions of the Chinese Super League.
Such a home performance fully proves that Xingongti has an absolute advantage in arranging and undertaking such an international competition. Therefore, as the football temple in the hearts of Beijing fans, it is only natural that the new building body will eventually become the venue for this match.
Why is the event so hot?
With only two weeks left before the competition, there is still little official news about the competition, but the discussion has been flying all over the world, catching up with the enthusiasm of the people when the Galaxy Battleship came to China.
Former ICC organizer employees admitted that from the perspective of event organization and business, the direct reason for this situation is that the organizers do not have enough sports background and lack relevant event organization experience.
According to the enterprise investigation, the organizer of this competition, China Hongqiao International Investment Co., Ltd., is a direct enterprise of the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, the company was founded in 1991, the initial name was China Hongqiao International Travel Service Co., Ltd., only changed to its current name in 2014, and the business is mainly engaged in investment activities, import and export trade with its own funds.
According to Krypton's field investigation, on its registered address, the name of the front desk company of the building is still "China Hongqiao International Travel Service"
It was not until May 13 this year that "sports competition organization; sports event planning; Sports agency services; sports agent services; sports health services; sports support organizations; retail of sporting goods and equipment; organization of sports performances".
In a hurry of time and too little disclosure of event information, many brands have shown a wait-and-see situation. "The official public account has always said that 'investment is in progress', and the information about ticketing and broadcasting has not been made public." Some brand sources said.
"Although Messi is our spokesperson, we are not sure what we can do in the game so far." A brand worker endorsed by Messi told Krypton.
The official push of the public account said that the game was broadcast live by CCTV5. In a previous online investment promotion plan, it was marked that CCTV and Kuaishou would be the broadcasters of this game. However, so far, major TV stations and online platforms have not announced the live broadcast of the relevant competition.
However, on May 28, the official account of the event "2023 Football Championship Line" appeared for the first time sponsor information, which were Yan'an Guobin Liquor, Baisuishan, Adidas, Guojin Gold, Australian Dairy Co., Ltd.'s brand - ViPlus, Xi'an International Football Center and Argentine wine brand Mi Terruno.
It is reported that some brands are joining the sponsor camp one after another. How the relevant brands will carry out activation behavior has also attracted the attention of practitioners from all walks of life. Of course, for fans, whether they can get tickets from sponsorship events such as Yan'an Guobin Wine Industry may be the most concerned thing for everyone.
Of course, the relative shortage of time may also be a reason. For Argentina, it takes only one month from winning the World Cup to finalizing its visit to China; For the organizer, China Hongqiao International Investment Co., Ltd., the qualification to host the competition was only one month away from mid-May; For brands, a very fast decision-making process is required, and the activation time is relatively limited.
These factors are intertwined, and this game presents the current situation of attention and topicality.
When the official ticket information is released, after the ticket seconds and second-hand tickets are speculated to sky-high prices, the relevant topicality of the competition may further rise.
Although there are still many doubts, we are still looking forward to the ticket opening and hoping that this match will finally be held smoothly, after all, we have not seen the international football superstars on our doorstep for too long.
For the Chinese team, it is a shame to miss the opportunity to play the world champion, but for the fans, this match will be the beginning of the return of the world's top teams to the Chinese sports market. For China's sports industry, we need more such commercial events to drive the upstream and downstream industries and heat up such a market.
Over the past few years, many Chinese fans have forgotten the passion of live matches. However, the ultra-high attendance rate of several rounds of the Chinese Super League, as well as the popular football markets of professional football stadiums such as Gongti and Phoenix Mountain, still prove that this is a fertile soil worth cultivating. It's not that Chinese fans don't have spending power, it's not that Chinese fans don't like to watch the game, everyone just needs better event products and a better viewing experience to be willing to use banknotes to cast their own votes.
Messi and Argentina are really coming, more and more commercial activities are finally back, fans' wallets and the skill sets of Chinese sports practitioners, are they ready?