Football Association of the Maldives FAM says all the countries in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation SAARC were involved in compiling the rules for the SAFF Championship.
In a statement, the FAM said that the tickets of the upcoming match in the ongoing SAFF Championship 2021 between the Maldives and Bangladesh were sold as per the rules formed by the SAARC countries.
It said that 200 tickets were allocated to Bangladeshi supporters and these tickets have now sold out.
FAM confirmed that it had received complaints that some were selling match tickets to Bangladeshis on the black market and the prices of the tickets have spiked from MVR 1,500 to MVR 2,000.
For this reason, FAM had made sure that foreigners cannot enter the stadium using tickets sold to locals and vice versa. FAM added that it does not encourage this practice.
FAM also said that special spaces were allocated for the fans from both teams and that foreigners were required to present a valid work permit when entering the stadium.
It said that this was put in place to avoid any security issues that might arise during the match.
FAM assured all supporters have been given an equal opportunity to attend the match and support their teams and that the supporters of the away team have not been treated any differently.
The hosts of the Championship, the Maldives will look to strike back in tomorrow's match against Bangladesh after losing their opening match to Nepal last Friday.
Meanwhile, the Bangladeshi team will look to move back to the top of the match after a spirited showing against the mighty Indians and stealing a point after going behind and losing a player to a second-half red card.
