Fans can order tickets for next year’s World Cup from September 10, football’s world governing body FIFA has announced.
The first ordering window of several ticket-selling phases, and initial ballot for tickets, will begin that day.
At that stage only the hosts USA, Mexico and Canada, know when and where their group matches will be – but not their opposition.
The full group stage fixture list will be discovered when the draw is made at the beginning of December. FIFA has not yet announced when and where the ceremony will take place.
Based on previous events, tickets sold before the draw are likely to be both venue-specific (without knowing the teams involved in matches) and team-specific (before knowing where and when a team such as the Socceroos will play). National associations are also likely to have a batch of tickets to sell.
Australia, having qualified by beating Saudi Arabia in June, will be competing at the finals for the seventh time.
To be in with a chance of buying tickets for the tournament, interested parties must create a FIFA ID on the federation’s website.
Some 6.5 million visitors are expected at the World Cup. With 48 teams and 104 matches in three countries, it is the biggest edition to date.
Demand, especially for the matches involving top teams or the important knock-out round matches, will most likely exceed supply.
Some tickets have already been allocated. For example, FIFA offered combined tickets for the Club World Cup and the World Cup, no doubt to boost the sometimes sluggish sales for the recent team tournament held in the US.
FIFA have not yet revealed whether they will use the dynamic pricing model utilised in the Club World Cup.
Source: AAP
