Sports

Continued ticketing woes for World Cup

Featured image credit: Rowen Smith on Unsplash

Yesterday (Tuesday) brought more ticketing woes for the World Cup in Qatar, as fans continued to face issues with their digital tickets.

On Monday, prior to England’s match with Iran, fans were faced with problems attempting to access Khalifa International Stadium in Doha. Guest were left waiting for hours after the FIFA Ticketing app crashed, with fans reporting that their ticket had disappeared. 

Organisers attempted to rectify this by asking fans to queue at a resolution point for paper tickets. 

Hundreds of fans have continued to struggle with accessing their digital passes, according to reports. 

The Associated Press (AP) reported that handwritten paper tickets were given to some fans trying to enter the match yesterday between France and Australia at Al Janoub Stadium, just 40 minutes before the start.

AP also reported that some fans were advised to show security staff their emails from FIFA confirming a ticket purchase and seat number. 

FIFA has also raised the Qatar 2022 stadium capacities this week, after questions were raised over the stated attendances. 

According to the world football governing body, attendances had been much higher than stated capacities. For example, the opening match between Qatar and Ecuador on Sunday was apparently watched by 67,000 people, despite the Al Bayt Stadium having an official capacity of 60,000.

While there appears to be a large number of empty seats at games, FIFA bases attendances on tickets sold rather than the number of people that have entered the stadiums.  

The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 will run until December 18.