The biggest event on the sporting calendar is just hours away, and one reporter has just received the worst possible news about their World Cup final hopes.
Sunday’s clash between Spain and Argentina will be the biggest sporting event ever to take place on US soil, with projections of record-shattering viewership numbers both in the States and overseas.
The cheapest ticket to watch Lionel Messi’s World Cup swan song in person at the New York New Jersey Stadium has stayed at $7,000 or more since tickets went on sale.
All the more devastating, then, for one reporter, who found out last night that his media ticket has been cancelled.
The defending world champions will face the reigning European champions in the World Cup final. Who will win and why?
Gazzetta dello Sport Spain correspondent has World Cup ticket cancelled
Italian outlet Gazzetta dello Sport is one of Europe’s biggest, and they were originally granted five tickets to the press box at the World Cup final.
In the early hours of Sunday morning, that changed.
Spain correspondent Filippo Ricci shared the news to X, voicing his disappointment and the sudden and unexplained decision from FIFA.
He wrote: “It’s over. After 38 days, 11 live games, 165 articles for Gazzetta. My World Cup comes to an abrupt and unexpected end just before the final. This morning I had a ticket for the final, plus mixed zone and parking, a few hours later, they’ve all been cancelled.
“FIFA told us that it was a matter of places. Gazzetta went from 5 accepted tickets to 2, Corriere has 5/5 confirmed, Repubblica 3/3. I don’t know if other reasons led them to cut our quota, but I know for sure that my World Cup ends in the worst possible way, pervaded by a sense of injustice.”
The demand to watch the biggest game of the year has not faded during the lead-up. On Saturday, tickets on the resale market were going for $12,000.
For Ricci, a journalist there primarily to work, forking out a five-figure sum like that at the last minute likely isn’t an option.
It’s not like we need to have massive sympathy for someone who isn’t getting the free ticket they thought they were, but the timing from FIFA is poor. To get the news less than 24 hours before kick-off is yet another example of either poor planning or poor communication.
For Ricci, it means soaking in the World Cup final atmosphere on the streets of New York rather than inside the stadium.
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