Ticket frenzy and soaring prices for Morocco v Senegal AFCON final | OneFootball

With Morocco at home, demand for Sunday’s AFCON final against Senegal at 20:00 has sent ticket prices rocketing and sparked a frantic hunt for seats.

According to L'Équipe, supporters are trying every route. Oussama and Yannick, two Franco-Moroccans in Rabat, found a 300-dirham ticket touted at 4,000, eventually paying 2,000 by waiting until just before kick-off. For the final, offers have already hit 5,000 dirhams, far above the roughly 30-euro face value.

They reckon high-level contacts are less useful than everyday fixers, suggesting taxi drivers or hairdressers often know how to source a seat without excess.

Others prepared earlier. The Rossoverde collective, formed on five June 2023 by Moroccans abroad to back the Atlas Lions and navigate ticket issues, counts about 300 members, with their in-stadium numbers doubling during this tournament. Their first outing was in Lens for Morocco 1-0 Burkina Faso on 12 September 2023.

Not tied to the federation, they obtained a block via CAF behind the goal where Morocco qualified on penalties against Nigeria. With whistles, tifos and chants, they are hard to miss.

Two days before the tournament, CAF told them they would receive 600 tickets per match if they fronted costs through to the final, regardless of Morocco’s progress. The group had to raise 840,000 dirhams in two days, with about 200,000 in the kitty, and say the passion around the team helped them exceed the target.

Players have acknowledged them too, Bilal el-Khannouss greeted them with his son after the win over Nigeria, and others have taken their scarves. At least Rossoverde should have fewer issues entering the ground on Sunday.

Source: L'Équipe