England-Mexico ticket prices soar to $36,000

{"text":[[{"start":10,"text":"Ticket prices for England’s clash against Mexico on Sunday have soared to more than 50 times their face value, as World Cup fever grips Mexican fans seeking to glimpse their team on home turf for the last time."}],[{"start":22.85,"text":"The match is the tournament’s last at the legendary stadium known as the Azteca, and tickets are listed at as much as $36,000 on resale sites. Prices have risen by a third in the past three days alone, according to TicketData, even as tickets for other knockout games are falling in value. "}],[{"start":40.7,"text":"Football-obsessed Mexico fans have paid the highest prices throughout the 2026 World Cup — hosted in the US, Mexico and Canada — despite far lower average wages than their North American neighbours. "}],[{"start":54.2,"text":"Enthusiasm has only grown as the team advanced into the final 16 without conceding a goal. Mexico’s 2-0 win over Ecuador on Tuesday led to wild celebrations across the country, including 1mn people on the streets of the capital drinking and singing until the morning."}],[{"start":72.55000000000001,"text":"School has been cancelled on match days in Mexico City, with television screens mounted in taquerías, cafés and bars across the capital. "}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":81.70000000000002,"text":"Even before England qualified for the Round of 16 match, the cheapest tickets were selling for thousands of dollars. They are now just under $3,700 each, compared with less than $700 for the game between Canada and Morocco in Houston. On Fifa’s official resale platform, England-Mexico tickets with a face value of $180 have been listed at almost $10,000 each, plus a further $1,500 in fees charged by football’s governing body."}],[{"start":112.80000000000001,"text":"Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s leftwing president, has chosen not to attend any of the games so far, in what she says is a show of solidarity with those who cannot afford to buy expensive tickets. Her VIP ticket to the tournament’s opening game was given to a 21-year-old who won a competition. "}],[{"start":130.25,"text":"But she has embraced World Cup fever in other ways. Last week she hosted Merlin, a duck who was filmed waddling alongside fans early in the tournament while wearing a miniature green Mexico football shirt. Sheinbaum described Merlin as a “symbol of ​what Mexican families ​stand for”."}],[{"start":148.15,"text":"However, the festivities have also led to tragedy. Three people died from asphyxiation and another from an epileptic crisis during Tuesday’s celebrations in the capital’s streets near the Angel of Independence, the central meeting point for Mexico fans after they win games, police said. "}],[{"start":165.95000000000002,"text":"At Sunday’s round of 16 game, England will be facing one of the most intimidating environments in world football, at the stadium nicknamed the “colossus” or the “cauldron”."}],[{"start":177.20000000000002,"text":"Former players describe deafening noise, constant booing, lasers in their faces, rubbish being thrown and a daunting walk out of the long tunnel to more than 80,000 fans. Ecuadorean journalists and fans said they were insulted and assaulted by Mexican fans during the game on Tuesday night."}],[{"start":197.00000000000003,"text":"Estadio Azteca has a rich history. It was there that Pelé clinched the title with Brazil in 1970. The last time England played there, Argentina’s Diego Maradona scored his infamous “hand of God” goal in the 1986 quarter-final."}],[{"start":213.50000000000003,"text":"England players must also contend with the altitude — Estadio Azteca is more than 2,200 metres above sea level. After beating DR Congo on Wednesday night in Atlanta, just 300 metres up, England captain Harry Kane said Mexico would have a “huge advantage”, having played three out of four World Cup matches in the capital."}],[{"start":234.15000000000003,"text":"Despite a football-mad population of more than 130mn, Mexico has only reached two World Cup quarter-finals, both during the last two times it hosted the tournament."}],[{"start":253.30000000000004,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1783063840_3988.mp3"}