Tickets for India's upcoming AFC Asian Cup qualifying round match against Cambodia at Salt Lake Stadium on June 8 were sold out within 10 minutes, forcing the AIFF to issue more.
While the All India Football Federation (AIFF) has made all the tickets "complimentary", the state government has allegedly "allowed just 12,000 tickets" in the 70,000-capacity Salt Lake Stadium to avoid any law and order problems.
National football team captain Sunil Chhetri had on Friday urged the state government to allow more than 12,000 people inside the stadium to watch the match.
“Opposition teams should feel the heat at our home venue. What’s the point of home advantage if only 10,000-15,000 people are allowed in a stadium that can hold around 90,000?” he had wondered.
After Chhetri's reaction grabbed the headlines, there was a meeting between AIFF and the state government this morning after which the authorities “decided to open up the stadium as long as there's demand”.
“Whoever quoted the number 12,000 actually spoke out of his hat — it's all rubbish. There was never any restriction by the West Bengal government. The stadium remains open to the public,” a reliable source, who attended the meeting, told PTI.
“But AIFF initially decided to issue 20,000 tickets to gauge public interest. Each ticket costs Rs 5, and since it's complimentary, the AIFF will have to incur the loss,” the source said.
“AIFF will never deprive any fan from watching the match. We’ll keep issuing tickets till the last seat is available in the stadium. The more, the merrier,” added the source.
During India's 2018 Intercontinental Cup campaign in Mumbai, Chhetri also made a passionate appeal on social media to come and support the national team at the stadium.
