FIFA are offering FREE tickets to Monday’s Club World Cup clash between Inter Milan and Fluminense.
All of those who paid to see Chelsea thrash Benfica 4-1 at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte on Saturday have been offered no fewer than FOUR freebies for the fixture at the same venue.
In an email seen by Mail Sport, FIFA say the offer is ‘a token of our appreciation’ after Chelsea’s match against the Portuguese was hit by a weather disruption.
However, some may see it as further evidence that world football’s governing body is struggling to sell tickets for its revamped tournament and a desperate attempt to put more bums on seats.
The west London side qualified for the quarter-finals in a game that went on for more than four hours. In the 86th minute, due to lightning in the vicinity, the match was suspended with the score at 1-0 to Chelsea. Play resumed two hours later and the English outfit eventually needed extra-time to prevail.
Just 25,929 attended the game in what was an empty-looking 74,867 venue. And officials may well be doing all they can to avoid a repeat on Monday when the Italians face the Brazilians.
Four complimentary tickets to attendees of the Chelsea game as a ‘thank you for your presence and understanding’.
While some matches have played out before big crowds, there have been notably poor attendances across the competition. Indeed, Mail Sport revealed that, at some matches, FIFA were moving fans who had bought tickets to seats facing the television cameras, in an attempt to improve optics.
