Hong Kong FA Experiences Sluggish Ticket Sales For Argentine Exhibition Game

The "party to celebrate the 100th anniversary" of the Hong Kong FA "has not drawn the attention of the masses with only about half of the tickets for the Argentina match against Hong Kong sold," according to Alvin Sallay of the SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST. HKFA CEO Mark Sutcliffe insisted that "it will still be a hit and that the HKFA will not make a loss." It is believed the HKFA has had to pay HK$30M ($3.9M) to lure Lionel Messi's Argentina for the one-off exhibition at Hong Kong Stadium. This sum "can be recovered if the 40,000-capacity venue is sold out." Sutcliffe: "The HKFA will not make a loss because the match is being under-written by our directors. We have sold around 50 percent of the tickets, but sales are brisker now that we are getting close to the match and it is traditional here for people to buy tickets at the last minute and even on the day of the match" (SCMP, 10/13).