South Korea’s national football team has seen a major spike in ticket sales, with recent games selling out within a day for the first time in 15 years.
According to the Korea Football Association (KFA), tickets for South Korea’s friendlies against Uruguay and Panama this month sold out within three hours after sales began.
The KFA sold 64,174 available tickets for the Uruguay match, which saw South Korea win 2-1 at the Seoul World Cup Stadium last weekend.
The last time South Korea saw sell-out crowds at the 66,704-capacity stadium, the nation’s largest football-only venue, was in 2013 when it hosted Brazil.
In addition, all 25,486 tickets for South Korea’s friendly against Panama sold out despite the game being held on a weekday outside the Seoul metropolitan area at Cheonan Stadium.
Tickets for the men’s football matches have now sold out for four consecutive games, with fans also snapping up all available tickets for South Korea’s friendly matches against Costa Rica (35,922 tickets) in Goyang, and Chile (40,760 tickets) in Suwon.
According to Korea Bizwire, the KFA said the recent boom in ticket sales can be explained through the rise of teenage girls attending matches.
“The ratio of male to female in ticket sales was 7:3 in previous matches, but for September friendlies, it was 4.5:5.5, meaning there were more women than men,” said Yi Cheong-seop, head of the KFA’s marketing team, according to Korea Bizwire. “We’re also seeing more teenage fans than before.”
Yi added that with the popularity of young footballers, the KFA has begun selling premium tickets that allow fans to engage more closely with national team players.
The KFA introduced a “Premium S” ticket last month, which gives fans a national team player’s autographed jersey and provides access to a dinner buffet at the stadium. It also allows access to the national team buses and locker, as well as a photo session with national team members.
Image: travel oriented
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