Russia 2018: Ticket Thread (sales at face-value ONLY)

If the lack of traffic on the forums is anything to go by then we may not need his help. Hopefully anyway.

 

Hopefully. The Russian Federation announced tickets sales will begin December http://tass.com/sport/955080 . So it's a little early. The tournament is very accesible to europeans. So it may get crazy with tickets.

 

I disagree. I don't share your negativity about the ticketing. It'll happen soon enough, we're still 10+ months out. Personally, I'm hoping the first phase doesn't happen until after the draw. I'm still extremely excited about attending this tournament and even looking forward to the ticketing process as time consuming and frustrating as it can sometimes be.

My prediction is that ticket demand will be at least equal to and will probably exceed WC14. Demand for tickets for matches in the big cities (especially Moscow and St. Petersburg) will far exceed supply and will go for a premium. Tickets for the smaller/less accessible cities with less popular teams will be available and may even not sell out, just like in Brazil.

As for not needing @Scorpyn78's help, I really disagree. I want tickets to the Opening Match in Moscow. In 2014 I got Opening Match tickets when the alarm went off in the middle of the night about 3 weeks before the tournament started. There is no way I'd have gotten them otherwise and I think an extremely thin chance I'd get them next year without "help". I stand by my earlier prediction that tickets for big teams and big cities will be as hard to get as they were in 2014. I'll guess we'll see in the coming months.

 

I am not being negative I am just saying that the traffic here at this stage and on Trip Advisor is nothing like what it was four years ago which has surprised me. Also like you and myself there are 20-30 on here who will go every time and be very excited about it. I just wish the hotels would be freed up, the local flights announced and FIFA stop hiding under a barrel and maybe a few other people will join the conversation.

Again if you are after the opening game and teh final plus various other games it will take luck and possibly Scorpyn's help. I do think they will struggle with some lesser games in the more far flung places and far more than Brazil did.

I have to say I don't understand why you want the ticket phase after the draw as it will be potentially much more difficult to get tickets when people know what certain games are and gives us less of a chance.

 

yeah I know we all like to slam on FIFA for good reason in most cases, but I don't think the "delay" in releasing ticket info is that big of a deal. And I do agree with you that once FIFA makes an official statement on the date of Phase 1, interest and excitement will go way up.

I'm not sure on demand for the remote cities, I think it remains to be seen. I don't know enough about transportation availability and cost, as well as lodging. Those are two important drivers. In Brazil that's why I skipped the USA-Portugal game in Manaus and stayed in Rio. It would have been very time consuming (full travel day each way), expensive flights, and non-availability of lodging. What little there was was super expensive.

I didn't participate in Phase 1 in Brazil, for the same reason I probably won't for WC18. My intention is to attend all 3 USA Group Stage games. It's a crapshoot for when and where those 3 games will be played. I'm the type who likes to plan out the trip methodically beforehand and not just show up and wing it. So my planning process starts with the 3 USA Group Stage games and builds around those dates and cities. Each USA match pretty much eliminates 3 days from the schedule, the day before, day of, and day after.

 

first before I get slammed yes I realize that the US still has to qualify for WC18 and it's not guaranteed. I'm being hopeful. I'm going regardless but I'm optimistic the US will qualify. Things may be a lot clearer after 5 September.

I also did some digging and pulled up the WC14 Ticketing Fan Guide to look at the Venue Series Ticket (VST) and the Team Specific Ticket (TST). I guess those were available during Phase 1 in WC14, before the draw. The guide has verbiage about how "if your team is drawn against Brazil in the opening match" you have to pay additional money and also says: "You can apply for these tickets now even if your team has yet to qualify..." and how you'll get a refund if they fail to qualify. So the VST/TST must have been offered before the draw.

So with that in mind, maybe I will go for a USA TST in Phase 1 and it seems that my odds of getting one in Phase 1 are better than waiting for after the draw.

Just for the hell of it maybe I will just try for a St. Petersburg or Moscow VST as those will always be easy to offload and I plan to be in those cities.

This is all assuming TSTs and VSTs are even for WC18. It looks like VSTs were offered at the 2017 Confed Cup but not TSTs.

So I guess I am changing my mind about Phase 1 now and hopefully this info is somewhat useful. Let's hope for that WC18 Ticketing Guide soon.

 

hmmm... well, if the first ticket sales phase is indeed held after the draw then the demand will depend mostly on the teams drawn into each fixture, not so much the location.

So with all due respect I beg to differ. I think it kinda sucks that the first ticket phase is after the draw since it makes it difficult for us to see a match involving two high profile teams (or even one). But we can easily get tickets for Greece v Japan even if its played in St. Petersburg.

 

yeah I understand what you guys are saying, it's just that your priorities are different than mine. I do understand and respect that though. We all have different goals and priorities on what tickets we want.

Based on what I learned this morning, my new plan is to go all-in on a USA TST if one is offered. Then once the draw happens, build a rough itinerary for my time there. Then identify the matches I want to try for in Phase 2 and beyond. Maybe I'll try for a few Pot-1/seeded team matches in the big cities as even if I need to be elsewhere, those will be at a premium.

As I noted before, all 8 Group Stage matches in Moscow (in the 2 stadiums) feature a seeded/Pot-1 team. In fact, each of the seeded teams plays there once, including obviously Russia in the opening match. 3 of the 4 matches in St. Petersburg feature Pot-1 seeded teams (including Russia for their 2nd match). This means that 11 out of 12 group stage matches in those 2 big cities have seeded teams so they'll be even more in demand. Those VSTs will have major value should anyone be lucky enough to score one.

 

Tixs wont be available until after the draw. So no point in getting our feathers ruffled; without @Scorpyn78 , i'm not feeling very confident about landing an 1) England 2) USA vs an elite team 3) the inaguration. Hopefully he reconsiders.

 

Maybe the FIFA World Cup Ticketing Centre (FWTCT) knows the answer when the ticketsales starts. So I've emailed them and asked when the sales is about to start. This was the reaction:

"Thank you for contacting the FIFA World Cup Ticketing Centre

Information relating to Tickets for the 2018 FIFA World Cup™ will be available on www.FIFA.com/tickets in due course, and closer to the tournament dates.

We therefore suggest that you monitor the website for updates, and thank you once more for contacting the FIFA World Cup Ticketing Centre.

Yours Sincerely,

FIFA World Cup Ticketing Centre"

To me, it's the same communication of the FIFA on their website. No communication at all.
The only good thing is that the FWCTC is in place. Why is there a reaction, if the sales starts in december?

 

I always feel to much weight is put on the seeded teams in terms of who wants to watch what games. If it is done on the patheitically inaccurate FIFA rankings at this point in time then Switzerland, Chile and Colombia will be seeds and France, Spain & Italy will not and I am pretty sure local people would be far more interested in the latter three than the former. Obviously the problem comes with Germany, Poland, Brazil and Argentina.

As this is site has a lot of US contributors I remember asking some last time around why they were so keen to go to Brazil and one of the answers was that they had no intention of going to Russia. Do you think that is still the case bearing in mind the very up and down relations between the two countries?

 

I just point out the seeded teams because if you are going to blindly choose a pre-draw match, you're safer going with a match with a seeded team. In 2014, the group I ended up spending a lot of time with went all in on E1vE2 in Salvador in Phase 1. They chose this match because (1) they knew they wanted to go to Salvador [good decision IMHO], and (2) it featured a seeded team so chances were good they'd see at least one top team. Turned out that match was Switzerland (seeded) v France. A good match, but we were mostly disappointed we got Switzerland as we considered them the seeded team we wanted to see the least. But had they chose a non-seeded game, they were more likely to end up with a less interesting match than a more interesting one.

Post-draw of course you know the teams you're shooting for. But pre-draw I think you're safer choosing a seeded team and I think those matches will get more applications. Also as I mentioned so many seeded team matches are in the 2 big cities.

As for your second question, I've been planning on Russia since it was announced. However, I know several friends (some who went to Brazil with me) who do not want to go or are on the fence because of either a political issue with Russia or a safety concern. Some of them post on here and know that I am always trying to convince them to change their minds and go!

 

Good point, even though the likes of Poland and Switzerland may (probably will) be among the seeded teams. Then again its a fairly short flight from Warsaw to St. P.

 

as far as the seeded teams, remember that only the top 7 go as Russia takes a spot in Pot 1 as team A1. so right now the teams would be: Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Portugal, Switzerland, Poland and Chile.

Colombia, France, Belgium, Spain, Italy, England are in 8-13 currently on the outside looking in. There's still a few qualifiers to go before the draw though so there might be some shakeup. Agreed the demand for most of the UEFA teams will be higher because of the proximity of those countries to Russia, not to mention there are a lot of Euros who can afford to go plus the relative popularity of football in those countries.

I don't know how attendance will break down for 2018, but in 2014 Americans bought by far the most of any visiting nation at about 200,000 tickets while the next highest countries (Argentina, Germany, England) bought less than 1/3 of that at about 60,000 each. I think many Americans (not me!) also want to see the UEFA teams.

 

I think my biggest concern is that for teh known big games after teh draw that there will be more demand from locals either to go themselves or knowing they can sell on easily. I always remember in 2006 that the most sought after game was Holland v Argentina which turned out to be one of the worst games of teh tournement. Personally I would be equally happy with Burkina faso against Panama.

Out of interest what unfashional games have people been to. Personally I can calaim Bolivia v South Korea, Angola v Iran, Togo v South Korea, Saudi Arabia v South Africa.

 

will be the same again. big part of those americans are people with immigrant background, both latin american and european, they will run the lists followed by usual suspects like england and germany

 

the worst game ever was germany-austria in '82, don't think anyone from these boards was there but I have seen probably the worst elimination game ever: ukraine-switzerland in cologne 2006!
few days earlier we went to see tunisia-saudi arabia in munich, unfashional on the paper, so everyone expecting nothing, in he end it turned to be a great mach, big fun!

 

That's what I think. In fact, I think more Americans will go to Russia than went to Brazil as it's an easier flight and Europe already being a very popular holiday destination for Americans. Plus the popularity of the sport and interest in the National Team has increased fairly significantly since 2014.

A lot of Europeans went to Brazil. I think it's safe to assume that significantly more Europeans will go to Russia since it's WAY easier and cheaper to get there than it was to go to Brazil. I think there could be significantly higher ticket demand from Europeans for these reasons, but as I don't live there I don't know.

As for locals (Russians), I don't know at all. By far the largest group of ticket purchasers in Brazil were Brazilians. I think it will be about the same in Russia, but again I'm not sure.

I think the significantly lesser interest on Internet forums like this one and Trip Advisor right now (as opposed to the same time last cycle) could be mostly due to the delay in ticketing info. I think there is a good chance that once an official announcement is made and Phase 1 approaches, interest will blow up. My guess right now is that by the time we get to Phase 2 there will be more ticket demand than WC14 especially for the big cities. I don't know for the smaller cities, I think it'll depend a lot on transportation and lodging cost and availability and I haven't begun to research that yet. But it's the World Cup and with the number of Yanks and Euros that I think will be there, and the fact there are only 12 group stage games in Moscow and St. Petersburg, there will be ticket demand in those smaller cities too.

 

These things will probably balance themselves out. I still think because it is Russia it will put a lot of people off. Also there were huge numbers of South Americans, obviously, in 2014 that won't be anything like the same this time. Though the grounds are smaller than 2014 which will make it more diffciult to get tickets. The Brazilians were very last minute in getting tickets ans I wonder if it will eb teh same fior Russians but then maybe not as they will know the draw by then. The prices are higher. Lots of ifs and buts.

 

nothing can put true football fans off, that's the secret of the world cup. not even qatar, you'll see! wherever it happens people go there, it is the biggest non-religious pilgrimage of the modern world

 

Have to disagree there. That place in the desert was to be be my 10th WC and I doubt I will even watch it on TV.

 

Any chance of grabbing their email address please?

 

From a spectator point of view, 2022 offers an unprecedented opportunity to overdose on football. You could potentially watch 40-50 matches, maybe more.

 

There'll be nothing else to do there so good luck with that.

 

I'm going for a football tournament, not going to Disneyworld.