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Industry News

FIFA apologises for ticket site crash

FIFA has issued an apology after its website crashed due to the high demand for World Cup tickets yesterday (Tuesday).

Angry fans were left waiting for hours to access the site after sales reopened for the new phase of ticketing.

Meanwhile, several other fans complained that they did not receive a confirmation email for their ticket reservations, despite already paying for the passes to the international football tournament.

FIFA said on Twitter: “We are really sorry that problems have been persisting.

“We’ve been informed that the issues relate to the sheer volume of fans accessing the ticketing platform.

“We apologise to those who’ve had difficulties purchasing tickets today. We’ve noted the many messages and fully understand your frustrations.”

More than 1.3 million tickets have been allocated for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia since the start of sales in September. The numbers for the most recent sales phase, which ended on January 31, have been confirmed, with 568,448 tickets allocated.

Tickets up until this point were allocated through a random selection draw, while this sales phase will see tickets sold on a first-come, first-served basis. This means that fans will be able to purchase tickets in real time after successful payment, and should receive a confirmation immediately.

Eleven host cities will be the venues for the matches of the 2018 World Cup. They are Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Samara.

The 2018 World Cup will be held between June 14 and July 15 at 12 stadiums.