Socceroos paid record $1m for game against Argentina in Beijing to mark Xi’s 70th birthday

Aussie players bagged a fortune, while an enthusiastic fan showed just what happens when you invade the pitch in China.

A young Chinese fan is dragged off the field after a pitch invasion.

Football Australia was paid $1m, and Lionel Messi’s Argentina pocketed $8m, to play a match in Beijing held on Xi Jinping’s 70th birthday on Thursday night.

A Football Australia spokesman declined to comment on the financial terms for the friendly, which the Socceroos lost 2-0.

“We don’t talk about commercial arrangements,” said Peter ­Filopoulos, the head of corporate ­affairs at Football Australia.

But a source familiar with the terms told The Australian the ­national soccer organisation was paid an eighth of what the World Cup-winning Argentinians were paid for the friendly. Even with the disparity, it is the most the Socceroos have ever been paid for a game.

Football Australia claimed on Wednesday that Australian journalists had been given permission to travel to China. After inquiries from The Australian, Football Australia admitted this was incorrect and that no Australian press was given visas to travel to Beijing.

The fan hugs Messi before being removed by security.

Opposition assistant foreign affairs spokeswoman Claire Chandler questioned Football Australia’s handling of the game, which she noted was held on Mr Xi’s 70th birthday and was paid for by the United Front Work Department-affiliated China Rainbow.

“Confirmation that Australian journalists have been blocked from attending the match further increases the risk that the Socceroos, through no fault of their own, will be used for propaganda purposes,” Senator Chandler said.

The Australian has been told by a source familiar with the matter that China Rainbow International Investment Group, the company that hosted the game, had originally asked the Argentinian team to play against the Chinese national squad, which is roiled in a corruption scandal.

The source said Argentina’s management said the Chinese team was too weak and instead ­offered a list of alternative countries, which included Australia.

Messi, a seven-times winner of the Ballon d’Or award for best player in the world, delighted the more than 60,000 Chinese fans packed in Beijing’s Workers Stadium – an execution site during the Cultural Revolution – with a goal in the first two minutes.

He also featured in the game’s most surprising event: a long pitch invasion by a young Chinese fan who hugged Messi, high-fived ­another Argentinian player and then outran a team of portly security guards for almost another lap of the pitch.

I suspect the security guards at Beijing’s Workers’ Stadium might be sent to fitness training after this last night in the Australia-Argentina game.

Amazing how long this Chinese fan — to huge cheers — was able to run around the pitch, hug Messi and almost finish another lap. pic.twitter.com/48Pr912krR

— Will Glasgow (@wmdglasgow) June 16, 2023

 Even the scorching weather, hitting a top of 39C, didn’t deter fans who came from around the country for the biggest sporting event in the country since Beijing ended its Covid isolation.

Thousands of excited fans waited outside the stadium hours ­before kick-off, hoping to buy a ticket from a scalper.

Mark Dreyer, who runs the China Sports Insider news website and was in Beijing for the game, said he met a fan just before kick-off who had paid RMB 7000 ($1400) for a seat behind the goal.

There was a sprinkling of Australian supporters among Messi’s enormous Chinese fan base.

Ren Jie said the Socceroos were “not a weak team”, pointing to their World Cup performance. “Though the team itself doesn’t have many world-renowned players now, Chinese football fans still remember its fierce game with Italy at the World Cup a few years ago,” he said.

That the Australian team participated in the hyped fixture was a mark of the modest improvement in the bilateral relationship. However, ongoing strains with Canberra were also on display in Beijing.

The Australian team barely left its hotel during its week in China, except to travel to secure training centres. At least one practice session was held ­behind the walls of the Australian embassy.