Bolivians sleep in front of the stadium to buy tickets a month before the match with Brazil

El Alto (EFE).- The anticipation for the 2026 World Cup qualifying match to be played on September 9 in El Alto between the Bolivia and Brazil national teams has led many local fans to sleep since the weekend around the Municipal stadium with the purpose of buying tickets.

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The stores of different colors and sizes, and some covered with plastic, surround the stadium located 4,090 meters above sea level, where people wait, despite the cold and the persistence of ticket scalpers.

Long lines to see Bolivia vs. Brazil

“I’ve been here since last night. I happened to come to see if there was a line and there are people who have been here since Monday, we have slept here, I come for my children because they are fans of Brazil and also to support the team (…) You have to endure cold, heat, last night it drizzled, but we have to keep going until we get it,” Jeimy C. told EFE.

He explained that the fans organized themselves into groups, both to take turns waiting and to prevent other people from taking up space in front. The stadium also known as ‘el Titán’ of El Alto has an approximate capacity of 25,000 spectators, but for this match the Bolivian Football Federation (FBF) put on sale about 17,500 tickets, of which 6,000 will be sold on Saturday, while 11,500 were offered online and have already sold out. People form a single line around the sports venue to buy tickets for the different sections, whose prices are between 60 and 350 Bolivianos (9 and 50 dollars). Fans denounce scalping and fights
Another fan told EFE that he has been sleeping in the stadium since Sunday night to get three tickets, for his brothers and himself. “They gave us tickets with numbers so we could respect that order when buying tickets, but last night there were fights with scalpers who wanted to be at the front,” he stated. According to the young man, there are even people who managed to occupy the first spaces in the line over the weekend and who now want to sell them for up to 50 Bolivianos ($7 dollars). A person waits in front of the Municipal Stadium of Villa Ingenio in El Alto (Bolivia). EFE/ Gabriel Marquez Fans asked the FBF to “pay attention” to those who buy tickets because they fear that by Saturday there will be more clashes with those who try to buy tickets to later sell them. This is the long wait for Bolivia vs. Brazil
People waiting until Saturday spend their time sitting in the sun, some play with their cell phones, others look for food for the rest of the day and others prefer to rest inside the tents. Food and snack vendors have also set up shop around the stadium to offer everything from sweets to typical regional dishes. Bolivia and Brazil will face each other on matchday 18 of the South American qualifiers and will close their participation in Barranquilla against Colombia. La Verde occupies eighth place in the qualifiers with 17 units. It is one point behind Venezuela, which is in the repechage zone, and above Peru and Chile, which have 12 and 10, respectively.