Some 23.5 million ticket requests were made for the most recent random selection draw sales period for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Football fans tried their hand at securing tickets for the tournament later this year in the sale period that closed on Thursday last week. The sales phase followed the tournament’s final draw, with the biggest number of ticket applications coming from Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and the US.
Due to the compact nature of the World Cup in Qatar, for the first time, fans were able to apply for up to two matches on the same day at the beginning of the tournament.
Applications flew in for the final, with the most coveted matches including Argentina v Mexico, Argentina v Saudi Arabia, England v USA and Poland v Argentina.
Following the application phase, FIFA Ticketing will verify ticket requests and make sure they meet the sales regulations and household restrictions before allocating the tickets.
Should the number of tickets applied for exceed the available ticket inventory for the domestic or international markets, tickets will be allocated through a random selection draw process.
Applicants will be notified by May 31 on whether or not they have been successful. This also coincides with the scheduled payment period, where Qatari residents will have to pay using methods from Visa while international fans have multiple options to pay.
Following the completion of payment, fans will be able to book accommodation and apply for a Hayya Card, which is needed to enter Qatar.
Fans that did not apply or succeed in this random selection draw sales period will have another chance to secure tickets in the next first-come, first-serve sales period which FIFA will announce in due course.
Image: Qatar 2022