Fifa puts showpiece tickets sold at 2.95m

Nearly three million World Cup tickets have been sold, Fifa said yesterday, as the governing body’s president revealed the tournament had helped push revenues over the past four years to a record $7.5 billion.

A Fifa spokesman told AFP that 2.95 million tickets had been sold up to the opening day. The start of the World Cup has led to a surge of interest in the 64 matches over 29 days despite negative publicity over Qatar’s hosting.

Qatar has already overtaken Russia 2018, when just over 2.4 million tickets were sold.

The spokesman said Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United States, Mexico, Britain, UAE, Argentina, France, India and Brazil were the top markets.