In a heartfelt letter to all fans, the Team Dragon fan club wrote: “Red is the symbolic color of China, and also the color of the players’ fighting jerseys! Let the stands be filled with the red of China, let the players see the strength of their compatriots behind them when they look up. So let’s paint the stadium red, cheer for the Chinese U23 team and witness the glorious moment of youth!”

However, this appeal was met with mixed reactions. “Who does Team Dragon represent to have the right to give orders? What our fans wear is our freedom, it has nothing to do with you,” Sina quoted a Chinese netizen as saying. Another comment demanded, “Team Dragon, send each of us a red jersey and 500 yuan (approximately 1.9 million VND), and we’ll consider it.”

The South China Morning Post reported that in recent days, a large number of Chinese fans have flown to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to support the Chinese U23 team in the Asian U23 Championship final, the culmination of their historic journey. Many people also showed off their plane tickets to Jeddah on the social media platform RedNote. This caused the price of a round-trip ticket from Beijing to Jeddah, which cost around 2,300 yuan (approximately 8.6 million VND) on Wednesday morning, to increase to over 7,000 yuan (approximately 26.3 million VND) by evening, nearly tripling the original price.

Many Chinese fans were also affected by rumors circulating online that simply presenting a Chinese passport would grant free entry to the stadium, as a goodwill gesture from the Saudi Arabian Football Association and the AFC towards fans from the country with the world’s largest population. The Chinese Consulate in Jeddah quickly refuted this false information, explaining that “only a limited number of free tickets were distributed beforehand through local Chinese community groups, Chinese companies, and student organizations.” All others had to purchase tickets to enter the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Sports City Stadium to watch the final match at 10 PM on January 24th.

Source: https://tienphong.vn/hoi-cdv-keu-goi-mac-ao-do-co-vu-u23-cu-dan-mang-trung-quoc-dua-500-nhan-dan-te-thi-mac-post1815175.tpo