Now touts cash in on rampant Lions
England’s red-hot start means tickets are on resale websites for up to £4,000
ENGLAND’S storming start have made them the hottest ticket in town – and now touts are demanding £4,000 for seats at their next fixtures.
Fans face paying up to 50 times the face value of tickets to see the Three Lions.
The team play the USA on Friday and face Wales in a derby clash on Tuesday next week. The scramble for tickets began after the side’s thrilling opening match saw them thrash Iran 6-2 and make heroes out of goalscoring young guns, including 19-yearold Jude Bellingham.
All the games in the group stage of the tournament sold out months ago on the official website, with fans complaining they waited for six hours only to find none left. Governing body Fifa claimed it had 23million applications worldwide for three million seats.
When the final batch of tickets went on sale on September 27, the cheapest category 3 seats for fans without Qatari residency cost £58. The most expensive category 1 seats were priced at £185. Thousands of tickets have since reappeared on resale sites at vastly inflated prices. The Mail found category 1 tickets for the Wales clash on November 29 being sold on Ticombo for £3,995 each, including a whopping £709 booking fee.
For England’s match against the USA on Friday, category 2 and 3 tickets were available at prices between £249 and £1,288. Ticombo claimed to
‘It was first come, first served’
have 344 tickets for that game and 254 for the Wales fixture.
There is no guarantee that fans who buy tickets from touts will be allowed entry into Qatar. Supporters are required to apply for an entry permit for which they need to show the ‘ticket application number’ on seats bought through Fifa. It is unclear whether fans can get the code if they buy tickets from online touts. Around 3,000 to 5,000 England supporters are believed to have travelled to Qatar for the group stages, with numbers set to increase if the Three Lions reach the knockout stages.
Between 2,000 and 3,000 Wales fans have also travelled and both sides could see their numbers boosted by expats in the region.
When the final batch of 500,000 tickets went on sale at 10am on September 27 some fans claimed they were even going backwards in the online queue and many gave up. Fifa said ticket sales were highest for fans from countries including England, Wales, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Australia, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Yet there have been large numbers of empty seats at matches, with Qatar’s World Cup organisers coming under criticism for announcing highly dubious attendance figures that are higher than stadium capacities.
Fifa boss Gianni Infantino said: ‘It was first come, first served.’ n England’s opening match was beaten in the TV ratings by Wales’ first game, according to BBC figures. An average of 7.4 million watched the Three Lions on BBC1, while ITV drew in 9.4 million for the Dragons. Timings are thought to be behind the difference – with England’s game airing at lunchtime and their group rivals taking the prime-time evening slot.