It's All About Ronaldo as Fans Eager to See Juventus Take on K-League All Stars

Korean fans have dug deep into their pockets to see Juventus and its superstar Cristiano Ronaldo line up against the K-League All-Star team in Seoul. The Italian side will play a friendly against the K-League stars at Seoul World Cup Stadium on Friday evening.

The 200 most expensive premium tickets cost W400,000 each, and are located right behind Juventus' bench (US$1=W1,182). The reason is simple -- that is where fans will get the closest glimpse of Ronaldo. He is contractually bound to play at least 45 minutes in the match, so it is likely he will be substituted in the second half.

The next costliest seats are W350,00 each, and these 700 seats are behind the 200 premium ones. And some 2,200 seats around them cost W250,000 each.

The Portuguese superstar earned an estimated W130 billion last year, according to U.S. magazine Forbes. His Korean fans are eager to get a glimpse of their hero, snapping up all 62,000 tickets for the friendly, which went on sale on July 3, in two hours and 30 minutes. It took only 15 minutes for the costliest premium tickets to sell out. The total ticket sales amount to W6.5 billion, making it the most expensive single event in the history of Korean professional sports.

It will be Ronaldo's second visit to Korea. The first was in 2007, when he was a teammate of Park Ji-sung at Manchester United. Juventus is making its first appearance in Korea since 1996, when it played a friendly against the Korean national team in Seoul. 

The K-League's All-Star team comprises 11 players chosen by fans and nine selected by the K-League based on performance and team distribution. It will be headed by Portuguese manager Jose Morais, the head coach of table-leading Jeonbuk.

Veteran striker Lee Dong-guk of Jeonbuk will lead the attack. He earned the second-most votes from fans with 26,773. Park Chu-young of FC Seoul had the most votes among forwards with 28,982, while Aussie Adam Taggart of Suwon came in third with 21,991.

Goalkeeper Cho Hyeon-woo of Daegu earned the highest number of votes for any position with 62,938. His teammate Cesinha had the second-most votes for a midfielder with 56,234, earning a place on the All-Star team along with Kim Bo-kyung and Mix Diskerud of Ulsan.
Defenders Park Joo-ho and Dave Bulthuis of Ulsan, Osmar of FC Seoul and Lee Yong of Jeonbuk were also voted in.