A month before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, FIFA and organizers said Monday that about 2.9 million tickets had already been sold for the event, leaving about 7% of seats open.
International ticket buyers were primarily from the United States, Saudi Arabia, and England, while Mexico was the leading market outside of Qatar for corporate hospitality sales.
At a news conference in Doha with Qatari organizers, Colin Smith, FIFA’s tournament director, announced that more tickets would become available before the competition on Nov. 20.
Because stakeholders like sponsors and FIFA member federations return tickets from their quotas, tickets frequently become available late.
For the 29-day tournament, Qatar is expecting almost 1.2 million foreign guests, and more lodging is currently being built to prevent a bed scarcity in the tiny emirate.
According to Qatari officials, fans have already purchased 2 million distinct room nights in hotels, residences, cruise ships, and even camping grounds, and a further 30,000 rooms have been added to the capacity.
According to Yasir Al Jamal, director general of the Qatari organizing committee, the additional rooms increased the total capacity by nearly 1 million room nights.
A third cruise ship with 1,075 cabins was hired last week to dock in Doha port as a floating hotel, increasing capacity. When all 32 teams are still competing, prices for the first two weeks began at $470 per night.
Only 20,000 of the 420,000 applicants who sought to work as tournament volunteers in Qatar have been selected, according to the organizers. Around 2,200 people, or 11% of the total, will arrive from outside Qatar, with 89% being Qataris.
According to the organizers, this World Cup will provide a central headquarters for consular services with 45 countries represented by embassy officials, located in an exhibition hall in the West Bay neighborhood of downtown.
