It was reported that only 19,000 tickets were sold up to now for the match between Totenham Hotspurs and a Malaysian selection, planned to happen tomorrow, the 27 May 2015.
The poor sales of tickets is believed to have something to do with Malaysian fan group’s protest against Premier League clubs organising lucrative friendly matches in the country.
The Ultras Malaya had labelled Spurs’ game against a Malaysian XI and the 24 July visit from Liverpool as “circus matches”, and expressed anger at the disruption caused to their domestic league as well as the World Cup qualifying preparations. The group had asked fans to rip up any free tickets offered and urged people to boycott the match.
The Spurs squad arrived in Malaysia on Tuesday with organisers hopeful they would be able to boost the attendance before kick-off at the 80,000-capacity Shah Alam Stadium.
However, a less-than-half-full stadium will still be an unusual sight for English clubs travelling to Malaysia. In recent years Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal have all managed to attract over 80,000 fans for friendly matches in the country.
Yet the Ultras Malaya argue they have seen little impact over the years of the money-spinning matches and have fears about the state of the national team, who dwindle at a worst ever Fifa ranking of 166th.
Source: The Guardian
