Qatar’s World Cup is going well on the commercial side with almost 3 million tickets sold, representing 90% of stadium capacity.
Fifa and organisers on Monday, Oct 17, said there were now only 7% of the stadium seats left on sale, gloating on the amazing success in the sales of tickets weeks before the start of the competition by the end of November.
Fifa’s report says people living in the United States, Saudi Arabia and England topped the list of international ticket buyers.
It is impressive though that Saudi citizens are flocking to the World Cup. However, Qatar is a neighbouring country to Saudi Arabia and is a popular tourist destination in the region.
Another surprise is that Mexico was the biggest market outside the middle eastern country for corporate hospitality sales.
“More tickets will become available before the tournament starts on Nov. 20,” FIFA’s tournament director Colin Smith said at a news conference and reported by the international media.
Qatar’s initial ticket sales expectation
The country has earlier said it expects 1.2 million international visitors for the 29-day tournament. It has also prepared extra accommodation and more are being added to avoid any shortage of rooms in the tiny country.
According to Qatari officials, fans have already purchased 2 million separate room nights in hotels, apartments, cruise ships, and some campgrounds.
More info on the 2022 World Cup
32 teams will play 64 matches in a total of eight stadiums spread across five different Qatari cities during the FIFA World Cup 2022. Qatar has built seven new stadiums to accommodate for the World Cup, which will be played between Nov 20 and Dec 18.
The FIFA World Cup 2022, which is slated to be the 22nd edition of the international football competition, is expected to be particularly memorable as it will be the first World Cup to be hosted by a Middle Eastern nation.
Stories relating to Qatar and the 2022 World Cup can be found here.