FIFA, the global governing body of football, has offered striking proof of the massive excitement surrounding the upcoming World Cup. In just 15 days, nearly 150 million applications have been submitted by fans hoping to secure match tickets, President Gianni Infantino confirmed.
Speaking at the World Sports Summit in Dubai, Infantino revealed that although FIFA plans to release only 6–7 million tickets, the response has far exceeded expectations, with an average of 10 million applications per day during the initial sales window.
“𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒚 𝒆𝒙𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒓𝒚,” 𝑰𝒏𝒇𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒐 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒈𝒍𝒐𝒃𝒂𝒍 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒔 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔.
Infantino Highlights Historic Ticket Demand FIFA
Infantino compared the current surge in demand with the tournament’s long history, noting that FIFA has sold around 44 million tickets across nearly a century of World Cups.
“𝑰𝒏 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒌𝒔, 𝒘𝒆’𝒗𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚, 𝒘𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒛𝒆 𝒂 300-𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝑪𝒖𝒑,” 𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒅.
Despite facing criticism over ticket pricing, Infantino defended FIFA’s approach, stating that a special $60 ticket category was introduced to support fans from countries with particularly high demand.
The president also disclosed that the United States recorded the highest number of ticket requests, followed by Germany and the United Kingdom.
Emphasizing FIFA’s broader mission, Infantino explained that World Cup revenue is reinvested into global football development.
“𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝑭𝑰𝑭𝑨, 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒕𝒃𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒆𝒙𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒚 150 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒚 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝑪𝒖𝒑 𝒈𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅𝒘𝒊𝒅𝒆,” 𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒅.
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