LIGA MX

Chicharito’s presentation at Chivas is ‘sold out’

A presentation like nothing witnessed before awaits in Guadalajara. Tickets that were issued free are exchanging hands for 300 pesos online.

México

Just 45 minutes - that is how long it took for tickets for Javier Hernández’s official presentation to sell out. The city of Guadalajara is buzzing with Chicharito’s return, as the player sees out his twilight years of a brilliant career at the club where he started out, to end. A party atmosphere is expected on Saturday when the 35-year-old, Mexico’s all-time top goal scorer, is unveiled at 8:00 p.m. local time at Akron Stadium.

The board of Chivas has planned a reception like nothing ever witnessed for any player presented at the club. The club will open the stadium doors and allow all of those who have a ticket in to watch Chicharito being formally presented by the club he left 14 years ago to develop his career at some of Europe’s elite clubs. Tickets were initially available for free, but all of them had run out by Thursday morning, which prompted many to be be resold online.

Frenzy for tickets

Tickets for the long-awaited return of the prodigal son were made available on Wednesday for chivabono holders, who had until 8 a.m. on Thursday to claim their digital tickets. After that, access was opened to the general public. Just 45 minutes later, the company that issues tickets for Guadalajara’s home games announced that all of the tickets were sold out.

On their social media platforms, Chivas shared a video of Javier Hernández already wearing the red and white shirt. His first words as a red and white player were to invite fans to his presentation. “Chivabrothers, I really want to be with all of you, so this Saturday at 8 pm we will see you at the Akron. Don’t miss it!”

A huge turnout is expected to welcome Javier Hernández Balcázar back to his first club this weekend. However, it’s possible that the stand will not be completely full - if touts are unable to sell spare tickets on. Tickets that were originally given out free are already being offered online for up to 300 pesos ($17).

In the Liga MX, it is quite common for Guadalajara to announce that tickets for matches have sold-out - the Akron holds a capacity of 37-38,000. It is known that touts have thousands of season tickets, since that is how they operate: buying a season ticket then “renting” it out for each home game. If those seats aren’t sold on, the stadium does not fill up even if it has been completely sold out.