Qatar’s Ministry of Interior has revealed that its security authorities arrested three people for the unauthorised reselling of tickets to the upcoming FIFA World Cup.
Three men of different nationalities were detained outside of official ticketing centres in Doha.
The Ministry added that anyone who is found to violate the rules around reselling tickets could face fines of up to QAR 250,000 (£58,000/$69,000/€66,000).
In a statement on social media, the Ministry said: “The security authorities arrested three people of different nationalities for reselling FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 tickets outside the official platforms specified for that approved by FIFA and the host country, thus violating Article No.19 of Law No.10/2021.”
The statement added that the penalty will be multiplied by the number of tickets subject to the violation and that all violating materials will be confiscated.
The security authorities arrested three people of different nationalities for reselling the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ tickets outside the official platforms specified for that and approved by FIFA and the host country, thus violating Article No. 19 of Law No. 10/ 2021.#MOIQatar pic.twitter.com/BWiiP7QLhr
— Ministry of Interior (@MOI_QatarEn) November 14, 2022
According to reports from AFP, queues form daily outside FIFA’s main ticketing centre in central Doha.
Qatar’s Ministry of Interior noted that FIFA has the sole and exclusive right to issue, sell and distribute tickets. Tickets can not be issued, sold, re-sold or re-distributed without a license from FIFA or its authorised representative.
“The accused have been referred to the competent authorities for further legal procedures followed in this regard,” the statement added.
The FIFA World Cup in Qatar kicks off this Sunday (November 20) and will run until December 18.