Iraq Soccer Officials Inflate Ticket Prices by up to 2,000% for Visiting Australian Fans

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Dubai: Australian soccer fans who travelled to watch Australia play Iraq in a World Cup qualifier have complained that Iraqi officials charged them up to twenty times more for tickets than Iraqi fans and kept them waiting for hours.

The pricing fiasco, coupled with a week of 'dirty tricks' for the players, is seen by many as an insult after the Football Federation of Australia bent over backwards to accommodate the Iraqi's at a game in Brisbane the week before.

The Australian team were only given match balls to train with for their last two sessions and it took the intervention of the Asian Football Confederation to get the team one training session at the ground before the game.

Source: Theage.com.au