The 2022 FIFA World Cup play-off first leg tie between the Black Stars and the Super Eagles of Nigeria has produced a record breaking proceeds for the Government and stakeholders from the ticket sales through electronic means, the National Sports Authority (NSA) has confirmed.
The NSA together with the Sports Ministry introduced a new initiative on way of selling match tickets ahead of the match against Nigeria, and for the first time in the history of the country, the NSA, the Sports Ministry and the GFA agreed to introduce online ticket sale (eTicket), which enabled fans to sit in the comfort of their homes, offices and any location to purchase tickets for the game in advance electronically.
The initiative paid off and enabled the NSA to have all tickets printed, totaling up the full 40,500 capacity of the stadium, which were completely sold out in advance even before kick off.
In exclusive interview with ghanasportspage.com, the NSA Director General, Professor Peter Twumasi disclosed that the NSA made a little over $189K from ticket sales, an equivalence of GH₵1.4 million, the first in history.
“Before the match kicked off we had sold out all the match tickets”, Prof. Twumasi told ghanasportspage.com.
“Checking from the dashboard [of the electronic ticket sale platform], Government had made amount of about GH₵1.4 million from those who bought the tickets to watch the match”, he disclosed.
Comparatively, the NSA Boss stated the amount receive is actually the first of its kind, the highest amount the Institution has recorded from ticket sales from any national team football match ever organised, thanks to the new innovative means of ticket sales.
“This is the very first time, because we have played matches upon matches but we have never gotten such a revenue before. The only time we got something closer to this amount was when Asante Kotoko was competing in Africa [in the CAF inter club competitions] and played at the Baba Yara stadium in 2019, they got about GH₵900K.
“But this is the very first time we have gone beyond GH₵1m with even an addition of GH₵400K. So I think the eTiketing system which enables everybody to buy some from any location using their phones in advance, all that helps to increase the demand for tickets”, he recommended.