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Aussie fans snap up World Cup tickets

Staff WritersReuters
Fans in Australia have been big buyers of tickets for FIFA World Cup games in Qatar. (EPA PHOTO)
Camera IconFans in Australia have been big buyers of tickets for FIFA World Cup games in Qatar. (EPA PHOTO) Credit: EPA

Organisers have sold 2.45 million tickets for this year's World Cup in Qatar, world soccer governing body FIFA says, with more than half a million of them sold in the last sales period from July 5-16.

FIFA said the biggest number of allocated tickets were for group stage matches like Cameroon v Brazil, Brazil v Serbia, Portugal v Uruguay, Costa Rica v Germany and Australia v Denmark.

"Fans living in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United States, Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, England, Argentina, Brazil, Wales and Australia led the way and the digital queues by securing the biggest number of tickets," FIFA said.

More than 500,000 seats are still available three months before the tournament starts in Qatar.

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The launch date for the next sales phase will be announced in late September, FIFA added. Over-the-counter sales will also start in Doha after the launch of the last-minute sales phase.

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The 64-game World Cup begins a day earlier than originally scheduled with the opening ceremony taking place before the host nation kick off the tournament on Sunday, Nov. 20 against Ecuador.

It will be the first World Cup staged in the Middle East and has been pushed back to later in the year than its typical June-July schedule to avoid the region's punishing summer heat.

The cheapest tickets for fans from outside Qatar are priced at 250 riyals ($A100). Fans need a confirmed ticket purchase to book places to stay in Qatar through an official tournament website.

About 2 million tickets were placed on general sale and 1 million were allocated for FIFA stakeholders such as member federations, sponsors and broadcasters, plus hospitality programs.

FIFA previously said it got 3 million ticket requests for the World Cup final on December 18 - Qatar's national day - at the new 80,000-seat Lusail Stadium.

with The AP

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