Giving in to fans’ demand and Sunil Chhetri’s appeal, Salt Lake Stadium opened up fully for Asian Cup qualifiers
Whie the All India Football Federation had made all tickets for the India-versus-Cambodia AFC Asian Cup 2023 qualifier at Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Krirangan, popularly called Salt Lake Stadium on Wednesday, June 8 (the first of thre at the iconic stadium) complimentary, the Bengal government had limited the number of tickets to be sold to 12,000 to avoid law and order problems.
However, the tickets had been sold out within minutes, such was the demand.
It was then that India captain Sunil Chhetri made a fervent appeal for all fans who wanted to see the matches to be allowed entry (“If in a stadium of almost 90,000 people if only 10-15,000 what’s the point of having a home advantage?”). This pushed the state government to a meeting with AIFF today morning, where it was decided to sell tickets “as long as there’s demand”.
A reliable source, as per a report by InsideSport.in, however, told PTI that the number 12,000 quoted in many media reports was “all rubbish” and that the Bengal government had never placed any restriction. “The whole stadium was open to the public,” the source said.
The source added: “The AIFF will never deprive any fan to watch the match. We will keep issuing tickets till the last seat is available in the stadium. More the merrier.”
All restrictions on the number of tickets to be sold have now been lifted. India will the second of the three matches on June 11 against Afghanistan and the last on June 14 against Hong Kong. All the three teams are ranked lower than India.
The tickets for the last two matches would be available from June 8 and June 11, respectively.
