MESA, AZ — Tickets for a public training session by Turkey’s men’s national soccer team at the Arizona Athletic Grounds were gone in less than two hours, leaving many members of the Phoenix-area Turkish community disappointed ahead of the squad’s World Cup preparation.
All 2,900 tickets for the Monday, June 8, workout were made available on Wednesday at 3 p.m. and were sold out in less than two hours. Event organizers said planning for the session required weeks of coordination with FIFA, local police and the Arizona Athletic Grounds.
AAG explained that it’s fresh out of tickets to the event.
A spokesperson explained that some of the tickets went toward AAG’s community soccer partners, the Arizona Arsenal Soccer Club and the Arizona Soccer Association.
“I’m really frustrated. I’m disappointed. Really disappointed,” said Istanbul-born Mustafa Uygur, who said he and his family were looking forward to the rare opportunity to see their team up close. “This is something that comes once in a blue moon.”
Uygur and other fans say they believe about 4,000 Turkish people live in the Valley and worry that active supporters did not get early access to tickets. Uygur and others of Turkish descent complain that this is more than a game to them. A portion of their heritage centers around their national soccer club.
Mustafa Erdem, owner of Real Food Kitchen in Mesa, said he has been invited to help prepare meals for the Turkish team. He described the reaction among his friends as “very disappointed.”
“I was checking every day. When’s it going to be? I received a message that they’re online. Just go get them. I checked in, and they ran out,” Erdem said.
An Arizona Athletic Grounds spokesperson said the Turkish team helped set the number of tickets available and that no more tickets will be distributed by the athletic grounds. Late Friday, Visit Mesa told ABC15 it plans to release a small number of additional tickets via its Instagram page next week.
Fans hoping for wider access said they would have preferred prioritized allotments for active supporters or community groups.
The public training session is part of the team’s lead-up to the World Cup and will be open to ticket holders only, officials said. Parking lots will be open all day, and access to festivities outside the public soccer workout on AAG’s pitch will be free.
