Written by Youngsub Lee
Football Tribe Korea
The 2019 EAFF E-1 Championship suffers a low record of the audience with an average of only 897 fans visiting the stadiums for the past four games.
This Tuesday, the eighth edition of the EAFF E-1 Football Championship, the football championship of East Asia kicked off in Busan. The biennial competition has produced countless stories since its beginning in 2003. Due to the nature of the tournament, it was frequent to witness East Asian rivals contend for victory, leading to intense and breathtaking games.
The competition was expected to gather crowds for the teams’ rivalry (Korea and Japan, Hong Kong and China) and happenings aside from football. However, the attendance at Busan Gudeok Stadium and Busan Asiad Main Stadium have hit bottom low.
A total of 3588 fans visited the stadiums for the past four games. Surprisingly, only 1070 audience visited the stadium for Korean men’s opening match against Hong Kong.
Experts criticize poor marketing and unreasonable pricing as reasons.
Top-tier seats at the tournament were priced at 90,000 KRW, which is 40,000 KRW more expensive than the usual top-tier ticket for an international friendly match. It is an unreasonable price considering the absence of players plying their trade in Europe with the likes of Son Heung-min, Lee Kang-in, etc.
Poor marketing has been one component of low attendance. The BFA (Busan Football Association) was inactive to promote the competition. Although there were banners put up around the city, not many locals were aware of the event.
Although KFA (Korea Football Association) withdrew its bid to host the 2023 Women’s World Cup, Korean sports committees are taking a proactive approach to hosting major sports events. However, eyes would be raised if Korea fails to host a comparatively small-scaled event with only four contenders.
Competitions lie no meaning without fans. The continuance of poor attendance in Busan would mean nothing but failure.