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The organizer of Inter Miami\u2019s game in Hong Kong where fans booed Lionel Messi for not taking part said it will issue a 50% refund to ticket holders worth $7.2 million.<\/p>\n
Tatler Asia, which was criticized by the city\u2019s leader for the debacle, apologized to spectators in a statement on Friday and blamed Inter Miami. Tickets cost as much as HK$4,880 ($624) for Sunday\u2019s game, which was attended by some 38,000 people.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Pressure had been building on the organizer to offer compensation to fans angered by Messi\u2019s no-show, especially after the Argentine World Cup winner played for half an hour in a match in Tokyo just days later. The refund comes after Tatler Asia said it would\u00a0forfeit<\/a>\u00a0HK$16 million worth of funding from the government. The club is co-owned by David Beckham.<\/p>\n \u201cWe put our blood and sweat into bringing a world-class football match to Hong Kong and we were let down along with all of you,\u201d the company said in the statement, adding that there was a \u201cseeming lack of respect shown to the crowd\u201d by Inter Miami.\u00a0<\/p>\n The refund means the luxury lifestyle brand will record a loss of HK$43 million from the event, instead of a planned profit of HK$13 million, according to the statement.<\/p>\n Hong Kong\u2019s government said it welcomed the refund and reiterated a request for Inter Miami to explain why Messi played in Japan so soon after sitting out the Hong Kong match due to injury.<\/p>\n Messi\u2019s perceived snub has also triggered outrage in mainland China, where the Argentine football team is due to play next month. The Global Times<\/em>, a nationalist tabloid, said in an editorial that Messi failed to apologize and the impact of the incident \u201cfar exceeded the realm of sports.\u201d<\/p>\n Hu Xijin, former editor-in-chief of Global Times<\/em>, said Messi\u2019s commercial value in China will plummet as companies refrain from associating with the footballer.<\/p>\n \u201cFor a person whose career is coming to an end and whose morals are not very good, we should simply scold him and then ignore him,\u201d he wrote on China\u2019s Twitter-like Weibo on Thursday.<\/p>\n In a\u00a0post<\/a>\u00a0on Weibo on Wednesday, Messi, 36, told fans he regretted being unable to play in Hong Kong due to an injury to his adductor muscles. The same day Inter Miami said it was sorry that Messi and teammate Luis Su\u00e1rez couldn\u2019t participate in the match. The team said it had waited until the last minute to rule out the players to maximize the chances of them playing, adding that injuries are part of the game.<\/p>\n Messi last played in mainland China in June, when he led Argentina in a friendly match against Australia in Beijing. His national team is scheduled to return to China for exhibition games against Nigeria and Ivory Coast in March, according to the Argentine football association.<\/p>\n Inter Miami was established in\u00a02018<\/a>, making it one of the newer teams competing in Major League Soccer in the US. It was launched with the backing of Beckham, the former Manchester United FC, Real Madrid CF and LA Galaxy star. Messi joined the club last year after leading Argentina to World Cup victory in Qatar in 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n Billionaire Jorge Mas, Inter Miami\u2019s\u00a0managing owner<\/a>, said in a\u00a0July<\/a>\u00a0interview that its value could reach $1.5 billion within a year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n