AFF stunned by ticket prices for Vietnam-Malaysia match.

In a side note posted on the Southeast Asian Football Federation (AFF) website, the organization expressed astonishment at the exorbitant ticket prices that Vietnamese people had to pay to watch the second leg of the semi-final match.

Vietnamese fans are having to spend large sums of money to watch the second leg of the 2014 AFF Cup semi-final at My Dinh Stadium.

According to the AFF website, the ticket prices paid by Vietnamese citizens were the most expensive at the 2014 AFF Cup. As is known, My Dinh Stadium has a capacity of approximately 40,000 people, however, only about 13,000 tickets were sold by the AFF to fans (the rest were sold through official channels, invitations, etc.).

Even out of those 13,000 tickets, no one dares to say how many actually reached the fans, because many people lined up "all night and all day" to buy tickets but ultimately went home empty-handed.

According to this website, the cheapest pair of tickets were originally sold for $7, but after being sold on the "black market," the price was inflated tenfold, reaching $70. Meanwhile, a single ticket (not a pair) for a good seat at My Dinh Stadium, which has a capacity of 40,000 people, originally cost around $20 (400,000 VND), would fetch $200 on the black market.

According to AFF's observations, the price of that ticket may have increased to $250 by now. Even in the hours before the match, the price could reach $300 per ticket (approximately 6 million VND), meaning 15 times the original price. That's a figure few can imagine, because considering the average income of Vietnamese people, many would likely have to "sacrifice food and other expenses for a whole month" just to afford a ticket to the stadium.

These figures have shocked the Southeast Asian Football Federation. According to them, Vietnamese people are spending the most money to watch matches at this year's AFF Cup. In reality, Vietnamese fans have very limited access to tickets at face value, so buying tickets on the "black market" is "understandable".

According to the AFF's assessment, if the Vietnamese team continues to play well, defeats Malaysia in the semi-final and reaches the final, then the price of tickets to watch the second leg of the final at My Dinh Stadium on December 20th will increase even further.

According to Dan Tri