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Organizers of the 2022 FIFA World Cup have sold 1.8 million tickets in the first round of the ticket sale, the World football governing body said on Wednesday. The next round of ticket sales opens on July 5. The organizers also revealed which countries bought the most number of tickets in the first round.
There is a special category of tickets available only to residents of host nation Qatar and fans in the Gulf Arab state have bought the largest number of tickets, FIFA said. Aside from Qatar, the top countries where fans bought tickets are Canada, England, France, Germany, India, Saudi Arabia, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States, FIFA said in a press release.
The next round of sales will remain open until Aug. 16 and tickets will be confirmed on payment, on a first-come, first-served basis. The most recent phase of ticket sales, a random selection draw, closed at the end of April.
“With all 32 qualifying teams now confirmed for Qatar, huge worldwide interest is anticipated in the new sales period, which will close on 16 August at 11:00 CET/12:00 noon in Doha. Fans are encouraged to plan their trip to Qatar carefully and stay away from unauthorised websites and fake/invalid tickets – the only official channel from which to obtain FIFA World Cup tickets is FIFA.com/tickets,” FIFA said in a statement.
A spokesperson revealed that the global football body expects to offer a total of 3 million match tickets during the 28-day tournament that kicks off on November 21. Notably, the 2022 FIFA World Cup will kick off with a match between Senegal and the Netherlands at Al Thumama Stadium, Doha. The final is due to be held on 18 December 2022, which is also Qatar National Day.
France are the defending champions of the quadrennial event while Brazil is the most successful World Cup team with five titles and also the only nation to have participated in every World Cup finals tournament.