Stadium in China chops up and sells footbal pitch on which Lionel Messi played
4,000 fans queue up to land section of Beijing Workers’ Stadium grass on which the living Argentinian legend played in June.
Stadium in China chops up and sells footbal pitch on which Lionel Messi played
Culture and Innovation

Stadium in China chops up and sells footbal pitch on which Lionel Messi played

Photo: AFP/Wang Zhao
Eurasia 21/08/2023 17:00

4,000 fans queue up to land section of Beijing Workers’ Stadium grass on which the living Argentinian legend played in June, according to South China Morning Post.

Patches of turf from the pitch in China on which global football superstar Lionel Messi strutted his stuff earlier this year have been put up for sale at 499 yuan (US$70) a pop, South China Morning Post reported.

Small sections of grass will be cut from areas of the Beijing Workers’ Stadium pitch where the Argentinian star – who some argue is the best football player ever – spent large parts of a friendly match against Australia on June 15.

Between August 11 and 15, Zhonghe Gongti, which runs the stadium, allowed people to enter their names into a lucky draw which will select 100 winners of “Messi turf” for 499 yuan per patch, the National Business Daily reported.

It is unclear what size the individual patches of turf are, but the stadium operator said they have been taken from three specific areas of the playing surface.

One is the position from which Messi struck a left-foot shot into the net just 81 seconds into the game – believed to have been the fastest goal of his career to date, SCMP added.

AFP/Jade Gao

Another is where he dribbled past three mesmerised defenders, and the third is a bigger area the superstar patrolled throughout the 90 minutes.

Grass in these areas will be chopped up into 2,023 patches of turf and after the first lucky draw batch is sold, the rest will sell on social media platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Dewu, the company said.

“The Beijing Workers’ Stadium created a carnival joined by tens of thousands of people on June 15. It carried dreams and passion. It witnessed persistence and miracles,” the company said on social media app Weibo explaining why it had decided to sell the turf souvenirs, according to SCMP.

“To seal the story and happiness of the evening of June 15, this pitch which has hosted six Chinese Super League competitions and one international friendly match, will be turned into turf souvenirs,” the company added.

It said after payment buyers would need to wait about 45 days to receive the hallowed turf as it takes time to process the grass and preserve it in a sealed glass box.

As of Aug 16, about 4,000 people have applied to buy the turf.
#Lionel Messi #China
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