Nurses, cleaners and students have been racing to the parks, lakes and historical monuments of Catalonia this week in search of tickets for Saturday’s big event in the region: Girona hosting Barcelona in LaLiga (stream LIVE at 10:15 a.m. ET in the U.S.).
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With demand outstripping supply for the fixture at the 13,500-capacity Estadi Montilivi, Girona came up with a novel idea to give away 12 passes to their first match against Barca since 2019 — which is just the fifth top-flight meeting ever between the teams.
While Willy Wonka used candy bars to hide the golden tickets, which gave the bearer a tour of his magical workshop in Roald Dahl’s children’s classic “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” Girona opted for a modern twist. A series of small treasure chests were placed at notable sites in various cities and towns around Catalonia, with clues to their whereabouts appearing on the club’s Instagram throughout the week.
“The idea came up spontaneously at a meeting a few years ago,” Girona brand manager Adam Diaz told ESPN. “It’s a bit like [“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”] but we did not take it from anywhere else really. It is a bit like the escape room idea, or something similar.
“This year we hid the tickets in Barcelona, Banyoles, Palamos, Salt and Girona. We then gave out clues through our Instagram stories and our followers started looking for the tickets. Every five minutes we provided more clues until the tickets were found.”
