Qatar's Emir Offers Morocco’s Fans Free Tickets to Game Against Spain

Rabat – Qatar’s Emir Tamim Ben Hamad al-Thani is offering Moroccan fans free tickets to today’s Morocco-Spain game.

The Emir of Qatar has reportedly purchased thousands of tickets to the game and offered them to fans who have been struggling to find them at a reasonable price ahead of the game.

In the lead-up to the Morocco-Spain World Cup game, Moroccan fans in Qatar took to social media to complain that tickets to the game have been hoarded by black market operators who are reselling them illegally at ten times the original price.

Morocco’s Royal Federation of Football intervened on two occasions to solve the issue. Last week, the federation struck a deal with FIFA to allocate 5000 more tickets to Moroccan fans, and on Monday evening the federation distributed free tickets to fans.

As of Monday, Moroccans in Qatar took to social media sharing video footage of encounters they had with black market operators offering to sell them up to 10 tickets for the price of $1,000 each. The original ticket price was set at MAD 578 ($54.8).

Second-party sellers also took advantage of the situation to hike prices considerably, with some ticket-selling platforms reselling tickets at a price ranging from MAD 5,625 ($533.9) to MAD 21,210 ($2,013).