Lionel Messi fever grips Hong Kong as Inter Miami tickets sell out in 1 hour – then surface on Viagogo for US$1,500 a pair

Tickets for February’s football match between Lionel Messi’s club Inter Miami and a Hong Kong team were listed online for up to HK$12,000 (US$1,537) a pair on Friday, after selling out within an hour of being made available to the public.

Seats at the match, priced HK$880 to HK$4,880, could be bought officially only on the Klook app, and fans were not put off by the sky-high prices, with the sold-out signs up soon after an 11am sales launch.

Supporters quickly descended on resale site Viagogo to shell out sums ranging from HK$8,800 to HK$12,000 to snare two tickets together to watch the US club, co-owned by David Beckham.

Argentine Messi’s iconic standing had been underlined overnight when six of the jerseys he wore during last year’s triumphant Fifa World Cup campaign sold for a cool US$7.8 million (HK$60.9 million).

The 36-year-old eight-time Ballon d’Or winner – whose World Cup success completed a personal clean sweep of major club and international honours – is set to play at Hong Kong Stadium on February 4, alongside Miami and former Barcelona teammates Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba.

Multiple reports have indicated the Uruguayan ex-Barcelona striker Luis Suarez could be a Miami player by the time the MLS club come to Hong Kong.

But it is unquestionably Messi, in many eyes the greatest footballer of his generation, who is the star attraction driving the high admission prices, which Hong Kong Football Association chairman Eric Fok Kai-shan said were set by the game’s commercial partner Tatler Asia.

Tickets to watch the following week’s Lunar New Year Cup match, featuring a host of glittering names including Francesco Totti, Carles Puyol and Wesley Sneijder, cost between HK$180 and HK$980.

The $HK200 charged to watch the Hong Kong national team’s World Cup qualifier against Turkmenistan last month was also questioned by supporters.

Fans have seemingly put aside uncertainty over whether the magnetic Messi will be available to play, given constant question marks over his fitness in his advancing years and Miami’s crowded schedule during the American preseason.

The club are scheduled to play friendly matches in Saudi Arabia on January 29 and February 1 – the latter falling three days before the Hong Kong fixture – following a game in El Salvador on January 19.

Tickets remained up for grabs for an open Inter Miami training session at Hong Kong Stadium on February 3. They are priced between HK$580 and HK$780, with some seats reserved for charities, students and young athletes.

Messi’s World Cup shirts, meanwhile, became the third most valuable sports jerseys sold at auction. One bidder paid US$10.1 million for Michael Jordan’s 1998 NBA finals jersey last year, while, also in 2022, Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God” Argentina World Cup jersey fetched US$9.3 million.

The Messi shirts included the one he wore during the opening half of Argentina’s dramatic World Cup final against France, which they won after a penalty shoot-out. He scored from the spot after 23 minutes, and added his second goal during extra time.

Messi’s first-half shirts from group matches against Saudi Arabia and Mexico, and knockout meetings with Australia, Netherlands and Croatia, completed the haul.

US$680 to see Messi in China? Fans cry ‘robbery’ at Argentina-Australia prices

The 36-year-old is second on Forbes’ list of the world’s highest-paid athletes for 2023, with reported net earnings of US$130 million, behind only the US$136 million banked by long-standing rival Cristiano Ronaldo.

Sotheby’s oversaw the auction of Messi’s shirts in New York.

“A portion of the proceeds from the auction will be donated to Unicas Project, led by Sant Joan de Deu Barcelona Children’s Hospital with the support of the Leo Messi Foundation, to meet the needs of children suffering from rare diseases,” read an statement from the auction house.