New Delhi: To mark 50 day-countdown of the World Cup, FIFA launched its last minute sale phase that will continue until the end of the tournament amid anger from fans for making a sectio of tickets costlier.
Tickets will be made available at 8.30 pm IST on Wednesday for all the 104 matches that will be played from June 11 to July 19 in USA, Canada and Mexico.
FIFA said tickets will be put up for sale in Categories 1, 2 and 3 and the new “front category”, added this month, which sparked complaints over positioning of seats and locations.
In December, tickets ranging from $140 for Category 3 for first round matches to $8,680 for the final were issued and when sales reopened prices were raised to as high as $10,990.
FIFA is yet to comment on the new ticket categories it has added.
“At the start of sale, tickets will be available across categories 1 to 3 and the front-row seat categories, depending on the match. This ticket drop is part of the ongoing Last-Minute Sales Phase, which runs until the end of the tournament and allows the general public to purchaseticketsvia FIFA.com/tickets on a first-come, first-served basis,” FIFA said in a statement.
“Along with this set of tickets, additional tickets will continue to be released to the public on an ongoing basis up until the final on Sunday, 19 July (subject to availability).
“Given the nature of first-come, first-served sales and as in previous periods of high traffic, fans can expect digital queues, which allow FIFA to improve the user experience once fans are admitted.
“Users will be able to see the matches and categories for which tickets are available, select specific seats and proceed with their purchase, and they will receive confirmation once payment is completed.
“Fans will be able to choose directly from the seat map option to select specific seats or use the ‘Book the best seat’ feature.”
FIFA has sold over five million tickets for the 48-team tournament that will be held across 39 days and expects cumulative attendance record of 3.5 million of 1994 FIFA World Cup to be surpassed in this edition.