MOD NOTE: to users new and returning, please see the FIFA FAQ on ticket delivery, in order to avoiding repeating the same questions throughout the thread. - Paul Calixte Does anyone have an idea when the sales will begin?
If it follows the timeline from the 2014 World Cup, the first application window will open in August 2017 and close in the second week of October 2017. Since the draw doesn't occur until December, this obviously is the "blind" phase where you apply for matches by city and date/time, without knowing the teams playing (except for Russia's group stage matches). Ticket prices have been announced: http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/organisation/ticketing/index.html
For euro2016, it was a litlle after that which teams are qualifed and the fixture are exactly known. This was the session where you can only apply for the team you either have nationality of that country or a residant of that country. I think it will be about 4-5 months before the tournament for wc2018 too.
All I've seen on the FIFA website so far about ticket sales is "after the Confederations' Cup" (along with the prices of course)
For comparison, the old plan for the 2014 WC ticket phases is here: http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/brazil2014/organisation/ticketing/
If i am not mistaken i saw that for wc14 cat4 tickets were reserved for brazil residents only as it is stated on fifa.com page. How terrible idea is that? Is it true that no one other than brazil residents could apply for those tickets? If so, I hope that wont be the case for russia18, since there is a really big difference between cat3&4. Can someone tell if it is true?
Why is this a terrible idea? There will be some games in some [pretty far flung places that they will definitely need locals to help fill.
Yes there is a disadvantage. If you sell category 4 to everyone, foreigners will gobble-up many of the cheap tickets leaving more locals with the option of choosing between expensive tickets or not buying tickets at all. Many will opt for that latter resulting in more empty seats, especially in the less touristy parts of Russia.
in both cases, there will be same amount of cat3-2-1 tickets sold. there is not much difference between the amount of tourists that will afford to buy cat1-2-3 tickets at a less touristy place for the both cases.
Not sure I follow your thinking. The main expense for tourists is not on the tickets, but on hotels, travel, lost vacation days, etc. When you spend thousands of dollars on hotels and air-fare, spending an extra $40-60 for a better seat means nothing.
Sales phases will probably be very similar to the 2014 World Cup. Which means they'll go on sale at the end of August of 2017 (the first phase is a ticket lottery, FIFA call it "Random Selection Draw Period"). Here you'll find a little bit more details: http://russianblogger.me/2018-world-cup-tickets-infomation/
8 years ago at this time the first phase of the ticket sales had already concluded. The timeline has been getting pushed later in more recent WCs. I must say I don't mind a later first ticket phase (it was kind of difficult to plan hotels, airline tickets, vacation time from work, etc. more than a year in advance).
My fear is the difficulty to plan the travel's logistics. The airline tickets will surely be more expensive closer to the event as well as the hotel prices. As soon as I get my tickets (hopefully) I will begin my planning. For which matches will you guys apply for tickets? I'm aiming for the Semis and the Final (me and everyone).
What I did for Brazil was buy my main plane tickets between the US and Brazil early, then worry about the internal flights later. I made sure I made changeable tickets, which paid off later, as I scored Opening Match tickets weeks before and was able to change my outbound flight to arrive in Sao Paulo in time to attend. Then, when the US made the R16, I extended a few days so I could go to Salvador to watch us play Belgium. Also, right up until the weeks before the tournament, I wasn't sure what matches I could get tickets for and which I would attend, so some flexibility was key. I spent countless hours with the ticketing process then and plan to do it again for 2018. Understanding how it works and all the nuances is key. As for Group Stage v Semis/Final, I don't agree with you. Many people, myself included, like the group stage better than the later rounds. There is a greater variety of people from all over the world, and a more exciting atmosphere as all 32 teams are involved. Plus there are 3 games every single day to watch on TV. When you get into the knockout rounds, the atmosphere changes and not necessarily for the better. This is a big generalization, but my preference is the group stage.
IMHO, and as an active participant in the WC14 threads, I think these are two very different topics and should be kept split. I realize they can be split apart later, and they're going to need to be as the ticketing threads were some of the most active on BS in early 2014. I know because I spent about half my waking hours in them! Looking back at the forum, just the 3 key WC14 ticketing threads had close to 20,000 posts combined. The hotel info would have been lost in those. just my 2-cents
How easy is it to get tickets in the random phase? My friends and I had great success with the Euro 16 blind draw, but Im curious if it will be the same for WC18. We plan to bid on Cat 2 and 3 tickets in different sites, hoping to get at least one game.
wow...thanks! I think you'll see as soon as the first ticketing phase gets close, this thread will blow up!
It's very anecdotal, but in 2014 a group of 20+ I was planning to meet in Brazil decided to go "all in" for a Group E match in Salvador in the first phase (pre-draw), which ended up being France-Switzerland. Almost everybody in the group applied, and almost everyone ended up with tickets, so that's how I met up with them and saw that match (they had tons of extras). In retrospect, what they/we should have done was to go 50/50 on 2 games, one in Salvador and one in Rio, as those were 2 cities we knew we wanted to be in. The First Round is tricky, obviously because you don't know who's playing. We could have ended up with a really bad match-up and in fact we were somewhat disappointed when we found out later the E1 team was Switzerland as the other top seeds were more interesting to us. Also, if you say for example want to catch a key USA game, maybe you end up being in the wrong place geographically when the US plays the day after or day before or even the same day. Locking into any game before the draw is risky. That being said, if you bid on a Moscow game, you can probably get anywhere the next day as Moscow is the hub of the Russian air travel network. I'm not sure what I want to do yet. I know I'll spend time in Moscow and St. Petersburg, but the rest is up in the air. I also know that I want to go at least to the first USA game, as I think the energy level and excitement is at it's highest level then. Anyone who was at USA-Ghana in Natal knows what I mean. For me, the excitement level for that game far exceeded even the USA-Belgium R16 game in Salvador later in the tournament. Not sure if this helps at all...what happened in 2014 has little bearing on what will happen this time. I'm just sort of thinking out loud and starting to formulate my own ticketing and travel strategy.
Thanks for the info. Similar thing happened for the Euros with me. Friends and I applied blindly to a couple games at the bigger venues and we ended up with multiple tickets. 4 of us applied, and all 4 of us got at least one game. Im just curious if its gonna be that easy, or if it will be harder being the WC vs the Euros. Again, we don't necessarily care what teams. Just gonna apply for random games.