FIFA: 5 million ticket applications in latest World Cup sales stage

FIFA has said that there have been 5 million applications for World Cup tickets in the first 24 hours of the latest sales phase which has been accompanied by harsh criticism from fan groups over ticket prices.

The ruling body spoke of "extraordinary demand" late Friday, saying that the applications had come from 200 countries and territories.

FIFA said that most applications came from the three host nations United States, Mexico and Canada, followed by requests from Colombia, England, Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina, Scotland, Germany, Australia, France and Panama.

It said demand was especially high for the group matches with Colombia v Portugal, Brazil v Morocco, Mexico v South Korea, Ecuador v Germany and Scotland v Brazil.

The ticket window started on Thursday and remains open until January 13 after which the tickets will be distributed by lot. It comes a week after the group draw, making it the first for fans to buy tickets for matches where the teams are known.

Also up for purchase are tickets especially for the federations of the participating nations (PMA) which have a fixed price after controversy regarding dynamic pricing in earlier sales stages.

But ticket prices have been slammed by fan organizations, with Football Supporters Europe (FSE) speaking of a "monumental betrayal" of fans with prices set at an "extortionate" level.

Prices for these tickets appear around five times higher than at the last World Cup 2022 in Qatar.

German fans will have to pay at least €155 ($180) to watch a group game, and if the team reaches the final attending all eight matches would cost at least €5,975.