Hong Kong Football Festival Faces Backlash Over Last-Minute Ticket Price Slashes

Disgruntled supporters have hit out at organisers of next month’s Hong Kong clash between Bayern Munich and Aston Villa after top-tier ticket prices were slashed by HK$1,000 (US$128). Meanwhile, Saturday’s game between Manchester City and Inter Milan, and the friendly between Chelsea and Juventus the following Wednesday have both proved a tough sell, with thousands of seats still available. Around 30,000 have been sold for the first part of the Hong Kong Football Festival, which is being played in the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. But it is the third of next week’s matches, which is not part of the festival, that has caused most anger among fans. With tickets ranging from HK$2,688 to HK$388 available, Now Sports launched a “special sponsor offer” on Tuesday, chopping prices in the three most expensive categories by HK$1,000, HK$900 and HK$700, respectively. One mainland China social media user, who said they had bought two HK$1,888 tickets which are now available for HK$1,188, accused promoters Kuokai Sports and Scramble Events of “treating fans like cash cows to be harvested”.