Authorities Braced for Super Cup Ticket Scramble
Football and Tbilisi city authorities are confident that the long-delayed and calamity-plagued sale of coveted tickets for the UEFA Super Cup will pass peacefully after putting in place numerous security measures.
Following a short briefing at the Georgian Football Federation HQ on July 7, it was announced that 22,000 tickets for the Super Cup match to be played between Barcelona and Sevilla on August 11, will go on sale from 9am on Sunday 12 July at Mikheil Meskhi Stadium.
A video was then released on Youtube on July 9 by the Georgian Football Federation (GFF) providing a virtual reality run through of how ticket sales will operate. The process appears well-organized and relatively professional, compared to the ill-fated online sales which caused the organizers much embarrassment.
When the online sale was attempted, well over 100,000 residents of Georgia were virtually queuing for the most sought-after tickets perhaps in the country’s history. Only a very fortunate few do not remain ticketless and the desire to see the current Barcelona side, arguably the club’s greatest ever ensemble, has not dissipated. If anything, it has intensified.
With nowhere in Georgia more than a day’s journey from Tbilisi, there is no reason why this vast number of willing ticket-buyers will not be replicated on Sunday. Indeed, the (largely negative) publicity the Super Cup has been getting could in fact increase the number of those willing to queue. Moreover, for older generations, the online sale may have been unattractive or inaccessible. The physical sale opens the door to anyone with an ID card.
When the announcement was made the previous week that tickets would be sold physically, many predicted chaos at the ticket booths.
Georgian football supporter Andro Atoev, now living in Poland, was not convinced that the authorities had given the idea their full consideration.
“I am not sure they have had a proper look at this. This will not be fun to watch. In Georgia a line of 5 in a grocery store usually ends with a mild argument. And that is a grocery store where you are guaranteed to get your product when your turn comes. Imagine thousands of angry people in the one place. Bad idea,” said Atoev, whose voice of concern was far from alone.
Nevertheless, such fears appear to have been heeded by GFF, the city authorities and the Ministry of Internal Affairs as the ticket sales are to be heavily policed. Queuing fans, according to the aforementioned instructional video, will be penned in Vake Park which is roughly adjacent to the Mikheil Meskhi Stadium.
Stewards will then let through people fifty at a time, to walk up the steps to Chavchavadze Avenue where they will be escorted along the 300 meter walk to the stadium ticket booths.
Everyone will need to present their identification card to a steward before proceeding to the ticket booths where a maximum of four tickets will be sold per person. It is likely that most of those queuing will buy the maximum amount. If they all do so, then that will be exactly 5,500 happy customers, with the count of disappointed customers surpassing that several-fold.
In GFF’s advisory video, which depicts a blissfully calm scene unlikely to be replicated on Sunday, it reassures queuing fans that their safety will be protected by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. They also reveal that the queuing area will be fitted with bio-toilets and water stations to keep people hydrated. In addition, the emergency services and first aid crews will be on hand. The implication is clear – the authorities expect unrest.
In the virtual serenity of the video, they seem to have reached a practical solution. However, there are two key variables which will determine how peacefully this will pass.
First, when will people start queuing? Although the sales begin at 9am on Sunday, people are likely to be queuing long before that. Overnight camping cannot be ruled out, and when word spreads of early queue-goers, it may not be long before thousands follow suit. Will police disperse campers and early-comers? The earlier this starts, the more difficult it will be to control.
Second, how many people will brave the queue? This is very difficult to predict but, clearly, the number of people queuing will far exceed the number of tickets available. There is a guarantee of disappointment and how people react when the “sold out” signs go up, particularly if they have been queuing in the summer heat for many hours, will be important. Promises will have been made to sons, daughters, brothers, fathers, mothers, uncles, cousins, wives, girlfriends etc. Going home empty-handed will not be worth contemplating for some.
But, breaking the news that Lionel Messi, Neymar, Andres Iniesta, Luis Suarez and co. will be playing in your city, but you won’t be going, is a speech that several thousand people need to be preparing.
Initially, 30,000 tickets were to be sold online from June 22, however exclusive ticket sellers biletebi.ge’s website was quickly overwhelmed and crashed after selling less than 100 tickets.
UEFA then agreed to divide the sale in two, with one allocation reserved for Georgian residents and the other for international sales.
However, a second attempt by biletebi.ge to sell tickets on June 30 proved largely unsuccessful with fewer than 2,000 tickets sold in 24 hours. The following day, the international sale did take place and was apparently successful, with a further 4,300 tickets sold.
The management of ticket sales has been widely criticized by fans both inside and outside of Georgia and biletebi.ge has announced that it expects to be on the receiving end of UEFA punishment for its failure to fulfill its ticket selling assignment, for which it had been granted a reported $45,000.
Biletebi.ge announced via Facebook on July 8 that it had begun a process of refunding hundreds of customers who had paid for tickets but not received them. The responses on the page were typically ferocious with some disappointed customers alleging corruption and tickets being sold covertly, an accusation the company swiftly denied.
Alastair Watt