Australia among countries for most Cup ticket requests
Anna Harrington |
Concerns over visas and high ticket prices won’t deter Socceroos fans from attempting to attend next year’s World Cup, with Australians already among the nations with the most ticket requests.
The news will be a welcome boost for Tony Popovic and his Socceroos, who have drawn co-hosts the United States, Paraguay and either Turkey, Romania, Slovakia or Kosovo.
FIFA received five million requests for World Cup 2026 tickets in the first 24 hours of the latest sales phase, soccer’s world governing body said on Friday.
Fans from more than 200 countries and territories applied via FIFA.com for seats at the first 48-team World Cup, which will be staged across the US, Canada and Mexico from June 11 to July 19, 2026.
Football Supporters Europe (FSE) on Thursday called on FIFA to immediately halt sales of national team allocations, accusing the governing body of imposing “extortionate” ticket prices that risk shutting ordinary fans out of the tournament.
Ticket prices had jumped five-fold from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, according to FSE.
Football Supporters Association Australia chairman Patrick Clancy didn’t believe high prices would deter too many Australians.
“Some people have indicated it’s not as bad as perhaps they thought it could be,” Clancy told AAP.
“But of course, these are historically high prices – even the minimums – and they’re a lot more than what FIFA had had indicated early days.
“I’m sure there will be some people who who choose not (to go), and that’s absolutely fine, but I suspect the large majority will not be put off.”
A major overhaul of US border security rules could force travellers from Australia and 41 other countries to hand over five years of social media data when applying for an entry permit.
“Obviously enormous uncertainty and quite a bit of concern amongst Australian football supporters,” Clancy said.
“There’s not very much detail about what this might entail, obviously, fear about what it could entail, but very little detail as yet.
“Will it stop people going? I suspect they won’t. It won’t stop them from trying.
“This is the pinnacle of world football. It’s an amazing experience to go to a World Cup. There’ll be some people who are on their fifth or sixth World Cup and just can’t wait to go again.
“There’ll be others who this could be their first time ever, and there’ll be nothing stopping them from at least trying to secure tickets and and go through the visa process successfully.”
Early demand is being driven by high-profile group-stage clashes, with Colombia v Portugal in Miami on June 27 the most sought-after fixture so far in the Random Selection Draw period.
Brazil v Morocco (New York/New Jersey, June 13), Mexico v South Korea (Guadalajara, June 18), Ecuador v Germany (New York/New Jersey, June 25) and Scotland v Brazil (Miami, June 24) round out the top five matches.
After the three host nations, the top countries of residence for ticket requests were Colombia, England, Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina, Scotland, Germany, Australia, France and Panama.
FIFA said the strong presence of South American and Central American fans showed how the tournament was capturing the imagination across the Americas, while Scotland’s position reflected excitement over their first World Cup in 28 years.
The Random Selection Draw phase runs until January 13, with FIFA stressing the timing of an application within that window does not affect chances of success.
Fans can choose specific matches, ticket categories and quantities, subject to household limits, and will be charged automatically if their applications are successful.
with Reuters
AAP
