Some 1.2 millions tickets were requested for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 in the first 24 hours after applications were made available.
The initial sales period started on Wednesday, with Qatari fans having the opportunity to apply for tickets for as little as QAR40 (£8/$11/€10). The World Cup will run between November 21-December 18, with opportunities for some fans to watch multiple games on subsequent days due to the close proximity of stadiums.
The highest demand for tickets came from fans in Qatar, closely followed by Argentina, Mexico, US, the United Arab Emirates, England, India, Saudi Arabia, Brazil and France.
December 18’s Final attracted the most attention, with more than 140,000 tickets requested for the match at Lusail Stadium. Over 80,000 fans applied for tickets for the opening match.
Fans are still able to apply for individual match tickets for a specified match, team-specific tickets for those wanting to watch a particular team, four-stadium tickets, accessibility tickets and supporter tickets.
The first sales period is due to finish on February 8 with tickets being allocated following the closing of the ticket application period.
All successful, partially successful and unsuccessful applicants will be notified on March 8 with further information on how to proceed with purchasing tickets.
Image: Fauzan Saari on Unsplash