Zenica ticket scalper: When the Dragons play at Bilino Polje, it feels like I've won the lottery

Before matches of the Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team at Bilino Polje in Zenica, there is almost always a problem with a shortage of tickets. Even the most loyal Dragons fans often fail to buy tickets from authorised sellers, so they have to look for tickets from scalpers, reports the Patria news agency.

Although illegal, dozens of Zenica residents sell tickets for Dragons matches in this way, at far higher prices than the set ones.

A few years ago, the Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina introduced a rule that one fan can buy a maximum of two tickets, which was supposed to prevent ticket resale in this manner. However, it did not bear fruit.

- I hire others to buy tickets for me. After the sale, part of the money goes to them, and part to me – says one of the scalpers in an interview with the Patria agency, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

- Most often, these are members of my family, students I know, or friends who are unemployed. They stand in line and buy the tickets that I then resell. Simply put, people are struggling to earn some money – he adds, explaining that he has been doing this job for several years because he has no permanent employment and is registered at the employment bureau.

- I often have no other way to earn money, and I have a family to feed - he explains.

A few years ago, when tickets cost 5 or 10 BAM, scalpers earned only a few marks per ticket, but now that amount is much higher, often up to 100 BAM.

He says that when the Dragons play an important match, it feels like he and his friends have won the lottery.

- If the opposing team is strong, or if it is an extremely important match for Bosnia and Herzegovina, we will almost 100% sell all tickets and make a good profit – he says. The last match between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Andorra did not work in their favour; they barely recovered the money they invested in buying tickets because fan interest in the match was quite low.

According to the latest information, slightly fewer than 1,000 fans are coming to Zenica from Wales on October 10. This scalper says it will be a big day for him, because foreign fans will want to enter the stadium at any cost, and there are no more tickets in official sale, reports Patria.