KUALA LUMPUR: Ticket prices should not be an issue for loyal football fans to flock to the National Stadium and support the Harimau Malaya squad in the opening Group D match against Kyrgyzstan in the second round of the 2026 World Cup / 2027 Asian Cup Qualifiers, tomorrow (November 16).
The clash between the national squad coached by Kim Pan Gon and 'The White Falcons' squad, which is one of the top 100 teams in the world, will take place at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil.
Former national striker Azman Adnan, for one, said that the spirit of love for the country should outweigh ticket prices.
According to the former Selangor striker, the national players always look forward to solid support from the fans, who have been dubbed the 12th player.
"If in the past supporters would save money, forgo food just to buy football tickets to the stadium, why not now? The date of this match was set a long time ago so supporters who really love their country would have had the time to save money to buy tickets.
"I am sad to see young people these days spending hundreds and almost thousands of ringgit to buy concert tickets for foreign artistes, but then they are not willing to do the same for our national side. The ticket price is not even RM100," he told Bernama.
Sharing the sentiment is another former international, Datuk Jamal Nasir Ismail, who also expresses disappointment with fans who want football ticket to be sold at Rahmah prices.
He said the ticket price set by the FA of Malaysia (FAM) is reasonable.
"If supporters still ask for Rahmah tickets, I think this is too much. The current ticket price are already reasonable because do bear in mind that FAM has to pay rent for the use of the stadium along with other incidentals.
"In fact, RM2 from each ticket sold will go to the Palestine fund, so apart from supporting our national side, we are also helping the Palestinians," said the former Pahang defender.
He said the possibility of some fans' not turning up at the stadium because of the alleged expensive ticket prices will have a negative impact on the players who also make sacrifices to do the country proud.
Therefore, Jamal is hoping that the fans will come to the stadium and show their unwavering support for the Harimau Malaya squad in the quest for three precious points tomorrow.
As of this morning (November 15), 7,587 tickets for the Malaysia-Kyrgyzstan match have been sold.
FAM has set ticket prices for the match against Kyrgyzstan at RM40 (adults) and RM5 (children between the age of 6 to 12-years-old) for the Open Category; RM60 for the Grandstand Category and RM80 for the Premium Category.
Yesterday (November 14), Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh reportedly asked FAM to consider lowering ticket prices after football fans called for Rahmah ticket prices to enable them to flock to the stadium.
After two matches this month including against Taiwan in Taipei on November 21, Malaysia are scheduled to play against Oman, away on March 21 and at home on March 26, followed by the away match against Kyrgyzstan on June 6 and finally at home against Taiwan on June 11 at Bukit Jalil. – Bernama