Tickets of the Arsenal friendly game with the Vietnamese national football team in Hanoi on July 17 have been advertised at exorbitant prices in the black market though official sales to the public will only start tomorrow.

Especially, a pair of tickets on the A grand stand of the 40,000-seat My Dinh National Stadium to watch the match has been advertised for VND10 million (US$481) on the internet.

The prices of the game’s tickets are normally raised at least VND700,000 ($34) each in the black market. Official ticket price is available in four levels including VND400,000 – VND700,000 – VND1 million – VND1.5 million.

However, fans could buy tickets in the black market since July 4, when organizers of the match began distributing ordered-in-advance tickets to State agencies and officials sold them to the black market.

Ticket hucksters in the black market confirmed that the prices of the match will keep on surging towards the date of the event.

It is expected that a great number of fans will stand in long queues to buy tickets at the My Dinh Stadium tomorrow.

Weeks ago, the match organizers got entangled in a disagreement with the stadium owner over the fees to stage the game.

My Dinh owner demanded a fee of VND1.5 billion (US$72,100) to host the high-profile match while the normal fee to hold a match there is VND200 – 300 million ($9,600 – 14,400). Both sides finally agreed to settle it at VND800 million ($38,500).