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FIFA said it has experienced "unprecedented" demand for 2023 Women’s World Cup tickets after being criticised for giving out little information about the launch of its latest sales phase.
A second tranche of single-game sales for the tournament, which is to be held in Australia and New Zealand, went on sale on November 1, but fans claimed they were not given warning as to the launch time. Curiously, the phase began at 3am AEDT, a rather unsociable time for local fans.
ABC News reports that hundreds of fans have since taken to social media asking for clarification around ticket purchases after logging onto FIFA’s website on Tuesday morning only to discover the allocation for the games they had wanted to attend — including Australia’s opening group-stage game against Ireland in Sydney — were already exhausted.
have any other Aussies run into problems buying #FIFAWWC tickets? seems there was another release overnight that wasn't flagged to anyone via email and went live at 4am 🫤
— Samantha Lewis (@battledinosaur) October 31, 2022
However, FIFA said that the phrase “sold out” simply means tickets made available so far have been exhausted, with further seats to become available when the next phase opens in April 2023.
A FIFA spokesperson told the ABC that, despite anticipating 2023 to be the “biggest” Women’s World Cup yet, it had experienced an “unprecedented” demand for tickets, which have sold more passes in the first month than what were sold in the first four months of the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France.
“The demand for passes for many matches at next year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup has been unprecedented, and this only highlights the growth and popularity of the women’s game as we strive for the biggest and best FIFA WWC in history,” the spokesperson said.
“We acknowledge that, due to this demand, some fans have been unable to secure passes to some matches so far, however, passes for all fixtures will be available in the next sales phase.”
FIFA reported earlier this week that fans from 100 countries snapped up seats during the Visa pre-sale for the FIFA Women’s World Cup, which is set to take place in Australia and New Zealand next year.
Following the pre-sale, single match passes are now available with prices starting at just A/NZ$20 (£11/$13/€13) for adults and A/NZ$10 for children.
Fans residing in Australia, New Zealand, the US, England, China, Canada, Qatar, Germany, Ireland and France are the top 10 purchasers of FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 tickets so far.
The current ticket sales phase, which began on November 1, will remain open until March 2023. A final sales phase will then begin in April before the tournament kicks off.
The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 will kick off in July 2023 and will feature 32 teams competing in 64 matches across nine host cities. At present, 29 of the 32 competing nations are locked in, with the final three teams to be determined by the first FIFA Women’s World Cup Play-Off Tournament in February next year.
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