World Cup merchandise becomes a fan destination at MetLife Stadium

There’s no shortage of merchandise available for purchase at the World Cup at MetLife Stadium.

But get in line. Early.

There was a long and daunting queue to get into MetLife’s main merchandise store, located on what FIFA is describing as the West side of the main concourse, at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday — 90 minutes after gates opened and 90 minutes before kickoff between France and Senegal. It took about 25 minutes to enter the store, though it was seamless from there.

Plenty of fans didn’t bother waiting or exited the line — which started on a large turf area in front of the store and was divided by 10 metal barriers in a snake-like loop toward the entrance — after a few minutes. Others didn’t mind.

“This is why you come early,” said Omar Daniel, 37, a Brooklyn resident who was born in Mexico City, while waiting in line. “You come early, you enjoy the sun, have a beer … I have a big order. All my friends and stuff, they were like, ‘Yo, go get me some merch.’”

So he didn’t mind waiting?

“No, [heck] no, bro,” Daniel said. “It's all about the experience.”

Once inside the main store, the selection varied. On the left side of the store by the entrance was merchandise for France and Senegal: $39.99 T-shirts, $109.99 youth jerseys and $129.99 male and female jerseys, though the jerseys didn’t have names on the back.

Jaylen Morgan, 23, of Maryland, made the trip to Tuesday’s game with his brother and best friend. He bought a scarf, a France jersey and a Senegal jersey, which he donned during the game. He said it was “not exactly” in his plans to buy merchandise, but admitted: “Once I was here, I'm like, I feel like I have to. There's no choice.”

World Cup hats also were available,  with several options at either $44.99 or $49.99. Polo shirts were going for $64.99, sweatshirts for $89.99 and rain jackets for $109.99. Replica trophies were being sold in the middle of the store: $100 for a small one, $250 for a slightly bigger size and $400 for one sold in a case with stickers for each flag of the participating countries.

All merchandise was 10% off if purchased with a VISA card.

One of the most popular items of the day was the official match scarf at $45 apiece. Daniel Randazzo, 31, of Manhattan, and Brian Dolan, 33, of Brooklyn, attended the game together and each purchased scarves, which were split down the middle with France over a blue-and-red background on the left and Senegal with a green-and-yellow backdrop on the right.

Dolan said the prices are “fair for an event like this.” Randazzo, a Red Bulls season-ticket holder, said they are “what I expected” and compared the cost to the $40 scarves that the Red Bulls sell.

Randazzo added: “We took the bus here from Port Authority, got up to the gate before gates opened. And so my first thought was like, let's go to merch before it gets any crazier and things get taken up in there. But yeah, I thought it was pretty seamless in there. They have people ready to take you. It's like a Trader Joe's. They hold up a number and you go down there.”

There are two other, much smaller merchandise stands — windows that fans could walk up to and purchase gear from, not physical stores where they could walk and browse — located on MetLife’s main concourse. One is at what FIFA described as the Southwest part of the concourse, which still attracted long lines, and another is at the East end of the concourse and had virtually no wait.

Siblings Matthew Iannone, 30, and Miranda Iannone, 26, are Connecticut natives and Manhattan residents who attended their first World Cup game together Tuesday. Grabbing some merchandise certainly was part of the avid soccer fans’ mission.

“It’s the first thing we came to,” Matthew said. “We were the first train out. We were the first ones in the stadium, and we came straight for the store. Definitely wanted to load up on some merch.”

Miranda, a former goalie and captain for Cornell’s women’s soccer team, said: “It was really easy in there, though. Not too crowded.”

The Iannones were rooting for France, with Matthew citing his fandom for stars Michael Olise and Ousmane Dembele, and they bought jerseys, sweaters and shirts.

Miranda noted the prices were “crazy,” but “you kind of know what you're getting into” with being at the World Cup.

She added: “You might as well just go all out.”