File picture of FIFA World Cup in Qatar. AP
Almost three million World Cup tickets have been bought, FIFA stated Sunday, because the governing physique’s president revealed the event had helped push revenues over the previous 4 years to a file $7.5 billion.
A FIFA spokesman instructed AFP that 2.95 million tickets had been bought as much as Sunday’s opening day.
The beginning of the World Cup has led to a surge of curiosity within the 64 matches over 29 days regardless of unfavourable publicity over Qatar’s internet hosting.
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Queues have constructed up outdoors the FIFA ticket centre in Doha and followers report lengthy waits to get onto the official on-line ticket platform.
Qatar has already overtaken Russia 2018, when simply over 2.4 million tickets had been bought.
The spokesman stated Qatar, Saudi Arabia, america, Mexico, Britain, United Arab Emirates, Argentina, France, India, and Brazil had been the highest markets.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino instructed a convention earlier that the world physique’s four-year revenues had been estimated to hit $7.5 billion by the tip of the yr.
Revenues are greater than $1 billion larger than predicted 4 years in the past.
Infantino instructed the 211 member associations that the “superb figures” got here “regardless of Covid, regardless of completely different crises around the globe”.
Infantino is about to be re-elected unopposed at a congress in March after no rivals got here ahead in time to pressure an election.
He stated new guidelines regulating soccer brokers could be introduced this yr.
Infantino additionally stated he needed to see extra video games between nationwide groups from completely different areas and a much bigger Membership World Cup. “Now we have some good concepts,” he added.