FIFA announced on Sunday that nearly three million World Cup tickets had been sold, bringing the governing body’s revenue over the last four years to a record $7.5 billion.
According to AFP, 2.95 million tickets have been sold for Sunday’s opening day.
Despite negative publicity surrounding Qatar’s hosting, the start of the World Cup has resulted in an increase in interest in the 64 matches spread over 29 days.
Queues have formed outside the FIFA ticket center in Doha, and fans have reported lengthy waits to access the official online ticket platform.
Qatar has already surpassed Russia 2018, with over 2.4 million tickets sold.
The top markets, according to the spokesman, are Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Argentina, France, India, and Brazil.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino stated earlier at a press conference that the world body’s four-year revenue is expected to reach $7.5 billion by the end of the year.
Revenues are more than a billion dollars higher than forecast four years ago.
Infantino told the 211 member associations that the “amazing figures” came “despite Covid, despite various global crises.”
Infantino will be re-elected unopposed at a congress in March after no challengers stepped forward in time to force an election.
He stated that new football agent regulations would be announced this year.
Infantino also stated that he would like to see more games between national teams from different regions, as well as a larger Club World Cup. “We’ve got some good ideas,” he said.
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