DUBAI: Bidding for a ‘golden ticket’ to see Lionel Messi’s Paris Saint-Germain take on a team made up of players from Saudi sides Al-Nassr, Cristiano Ronaldo’s new club, and Al-Hilal has reached a milestone SR10 million ($2.6 million) on Thursday.
Saudi real estate businessman Mushref bin Ahmed Al-Ghamdi, general manager of AqarOne Group, made the milestone bid in the charity auction, beating Saudi tech company Azom’s SR9.3 million bid ($2.5 million).
A fierce bidding battle had started on Twitter after General Entertainment Authority Chairman Turki Al-Sheikh kicked off the auction for the “Beyond Imagination” ticket at SR1 million ($266,000) on Monday.
The ticket holder will attend the presentation ceremony after the game with Al-Sheikh, meet star players including Messi, Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar, and line up alongside the winning side in their official team photo. They will also attend a gala lunch and visit the dressing rooms of both teams at the King Fahd Stadium in Riyadh, where the game will be played.
French champions PSG announced on Monday that Messi will play in the friendly against a select side of players from Al-Nassr and Saudi rivals Al-Hilal on Jan. 19.
The auction for the Beyond Imagination ticket began on Jan. 9 with an opening price of SR1 million and bidding will remain open until 11:30 p.m. local time on Jan. 17. All the proceeds will be donated to the National Platform for Charitable Work, also known as Ehsan.
