Tickets for an Israel-Argentina friendly in Jerusalem next month with Barcelona star Lionel Messi expected in the line-up sold out within 20 minutes, the Israeli company handling sales said.

The Le’an agency said on its website that nearly 100,000 fans applied for 20,000 tickets when they went on general sale on Sunday evening.

“No sporting event has ever caused such hysteria in Israel,” it wrote.
Prices ranged from 44 shekels (about $12) for children and soldiers to 825 shekels in the VIP area.

Another 5,000 places went to supporters of the Israeli national team in a pre-sale reserved for them and over 4,000 tickets were to be distributed to children from needy families.

The game will take place on June 9 at the Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem which has a capacity of 31,733 seats.

On social media networks, tickets were being resold for up to 4,500 shekels on Monday.

Argentina will play against Haiti on May 29 and then Israel just one week before their first match in the World Cup against Iceland on June 16 in Moscow.

In Group D, Messi’s men will face Croatia on June 21 and Nigeria on June 26.

Israel finished fourth in Group 7 in qualifying for the World Cup, behind Spain, Italy and Albania.

They last qualified in 1970.