FIFA has mentioned that there is a demand for 23.5 million tickets from across the world in its latest phase for sale of 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Despite all the controversy surrounding the global finals in Qatar, the demand for World Cup tickets remains huge, as supporters in England, Argentina, France, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Mexico and the United States queue up to attend matches.
The demand largely surpasses nearly five million tickets requested in the second phase of sales for Russia World Cup.
The World Cup draw was staged on 1st April, and fans in the last ticket window were allowed to pick their preferred matches. The group matches involving Argentina and Lionel Messi, apart from England vs United States, were among the most in demand. The final was heavily oversubscribed too.
The breakdown of applications per country reflects demand in the first ticket sales with only India and the UAE dropping out of ranking of main markets. FIFA is yet to reveal a more detailed breakdown of applications per country.
Fans will be notified about the outcome of their applications by 31st May. At the end of first sales phase in February FIFA allocated 804,186 tickets, which is slightly more than 742,760 tickets, after the first sales phase in Russia when 3,496,204 tickets were requested. The first sales phase for Qatar World Cup generated 17million ticket requests.
Individual ticket prices range from $69 (QR251) to $1607 (QR5851) for the showpiece event in Qatar. However, local residents benefit the most, with cheapest tickets, costing as little as $11 (QR40), which the cheapest World Cup ticket since the 1986 World Cup in Mexico with seats for $3.
