Mighty Wanderers have justified their decision to backtrack on the pre-sale of entry tickets for Sunday’s CAF Champions League first preliminary round first leg against Simba Sports Club of Tanzania, saying they want to avoid counterfeits.
The Nomads host the Dar es Salaam-based side at Bingu National Stadium (BNS) in Lilongwe.
Three days ago, the Nomads posted a flier on their official Facebook page stating that the pre-sale of tickets would start yesterday through several outlets in the capital city and at their clubhouse in Chichiri, Blantyre.
But the club’s director of finance, administration and audit Mervis Mangulenje said in an interview yesterday that after some consultations, they have decided to sell the tickets on match day.
“We will not do a pre-sale [of tickets] as it creates room for counterfeits. From our homework, we believe selling the tickets on match day will help to prevent production of fake tickets,” she said.
Mangulenje said to ensure smooth entry, reduce congestion and strengthen crowd control, they have increased ticketing points and will open all the gates.
“We have also enhanced security to manage the gates,” she said.
The standard ticket has been pegged at K5 000, which is half the amount spectators paid to watch the Airtel Top 8 final between the Nomads and Ekhaya FC at the same venue last Sinday.
VIP ticket is at K25 000, corporate box is at K30 000 and the vehicle pass fee is K10 000.
Last week, Football Association of Malawi (FAM) also opted to sell entry tickets for the Airtel Top 8 final on match day for the same reasons.
The match grossed K87.53 million and FAM marketing manager Mayamiko Kafwamba said although there were some challenges, they were satisfied with the amount.
“The biggest positive was that there were no fake tickets at the stadium,” he said.
However, football analyst Parry Chinyama said while the idea is good theoretically, “in practice it has the potential to cause an unnecessary panic”.
He said: “As per tradition, people start trekking in an hour or two before the match which creates a security problem.
“Much as we want to curb fraudsters, we may create a scenario where gate crushing will be there. I would still advocate for pre-sale of tickets.”
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture has hired out BNS to the Nomads for Sunday’s match.
The ministry’s spokesperson MacMillan Mwale in an interview yesterday, said: “To that effect, the contract has already been signed and that means Wanderers will be responsible for all the logistics.”
The standard rate of hiring out the facility is K18 million.
