Qatar 2022 - Game Tickets Thread

Thanks for this information. The first week of matches is the week of Thanksgiving. I'm still thinking of putting my name in for TST USA tickets. I guess it's a pretty high chance I'll miss out on at least one of the games if I can't make it to Qatar until after Thanksgiving though. I wonder how easy it would be to resell tickets I can't use.

 

My friends prefer to make last-minute decisions but I'd like to sit with them for the games. Here's what I'm thinking:

TST USA tickets for 2-3 people
Four Stadium tickets for 2-3 people, on dates after Thanksgiving so I know I'll be there. This is the key to Four Stadium tickets -- you can choose the dates.

I suspect at least one USA game would be before Thanksgiving so I'm unlikely to make it, but I think I can easily sell those at face value.

The Four Stadium is more risky if you end up with two teams with not a lot of supporters, but I'm ready to take that risk. In Russia and Brazil I got venue-specific tickets before the team draws and got some pretty good games in the set each time.

What are my risks here? One is I'm fronting a lot of $$ to FIFA by buying tickets now but I can handle that. The other is with Four Stadium, I end up with some games I don't want to see but I can handle that and at worse case I bet I can unload for below face value.

Would FIFA impose some limit on the amount of tickets I can unload on their official site? Everything would be at face value or below, so it's not like I'm scalping and making money from it. As I read it, I can also unload some of my block of tickets, so if I buy 3 tickets and one friend can't make it, I can just get rid of one of the tickets.

 

Reminder that the deadline to get your lottery application in is 2/8. That could be Qatari time (not sure), so best to get it in by Monday to be sure.

I put my application in for USA TST3. By doing so, it does not let you also put in an application for Four Stadium tickets. I've asked a friend to try and book those so that we can get to see some non-US games also.

 

Are their any fundamental differences between the FIFA TST tickets and the supporter tickets issued by USSF? I’d prefer the former over the latter for scheduling purposes.

What are your opinions on general demand for USMNT tickets for Qatar? (Big assumption that we even qualify; I still remember my heart being shattered back 2017)

 

I think the demand for USSF tickets will be fairly tepid. In my unscientific polling of fellow US fans and other soccer friends, probably 90% have little interest in going to Qatar. Even in Brazil, tickets were readily available in the US section for the Portugal and especially the Ghana match (people giving tickets away at the US Soccer events the days before). And the Brazil World Cup had a much higher demand from more casual US soccer fans and just general US sports fans (the Olympics crowd).

USSF section tickets for the group stage match against the Pot A team will be a tougher ticket, unless it’s against a team like Belgium, Switzerland, or Qatar instead of Brazil or France. The other matches should be low demand, in my opinion.

Anyway, I plan to wait and apply for the conditional USSF section tickets, since I have Insider status and there are a lot more available versus the TSTs.

 

First round of ticket allocation announcements will be around March 8. I put in for US TST so I'll report back how it goes. I believe in previous WCs, Americans were the #1 ticket purchasers of any country except the host country, so I think even the first round TST batch will be in high demand.

 

I always took that stat with a grain of salt due to the large immigrant population in the US. Ie: could be Mexicans in the US applying for Mexico tix.

Americans in this case does not equate to fans of the USMNT.

 

Precisely. Those stats report the home address of the ticket buyer, not the team they support (via TST or federation tickets).

 

General question for those that went to SA and Brazil - how easy was it to get US TSTs from FIFA vs the match-specific individual tickets?

 

Here we go again…. I wonder if we will find out tomorrow. Seems like we probably will otherwise not sure why they would use the date (8 March) at all. Excuse my laziness but did they announce how many applications they had in this phase and how many oversold etc.? I only went for SFx2 and Final for this first ballot.

 

https://www.fifa.com/tournaments/me...-world-cup-qatar-2022-tm-tickets-during-first

 

I think you're asking about only the US TSTs versus tickets for each of the US matches individually. I don't have experience with the TSTs, as I've never applied for or bought them. But the individual match availability depends largely on the opponent (the US itself is never a hot ticket). And in other World Cups, the host city of the match would normally factor into the individual match demand as well (Rio/Cape Town vs Natal), but obviously that's not a factor this time.
Since you asked about Brazil, I can tell you tickets for the Ghana match were easy (there were empty rows), Portugal was a bit harder, and Germany was difficult. I saw lots of US fans giving away extra tickets for Ghana, a few for Portugal, and none for Germany. The Belgium knockout game was also easy (I don't think it was a sellout).

You didn't mention the "conditional supporters" tickets, which are similar to TSTs but with the key distinction of being distributed by US Soccer instead of FIFA. To my knowledge there are significantly more of these tickets available versus the FIFA TSTs - it's a percentage of the stadium capacity, probably around 15-20% for every match the US plays in. These are all in one block (but three prices categories), in the upper left or right corner on TV depending on whether the US is designated as home or away. If past experience holds, US Soccer will distribute these in a weighted lottery, same as for the recent home qualifiers. If you join the paid Premium Insider program now, you'll increase your chances of a successful application.

In the ticket phases following the draw, you'll be able to apply for the supporters tickets in the same fashion as the FIFA TSTs (applying for between one and seven possible matches). Importantly, anything beyond the group stage is "conditional", and you'll get tickets for that match only if the US advances to that round. For Brazil, you could requests different amounts for each match within the package. I got 4 for the group stage matches and requested only 1 for the knockouts, since the rest of my friends were going home regardless.

 

Thanks for the info. I will try to get US-specific matches if I can’t get the TST from FIFA. I prefer the TST route:

1) I am not a paid USSF insider (though I support the youth level programs) and I dont think signing up now would make sense. I’ll be behind the many other members with years of tenure and, thus, will be at the bottom of the weighted draw for the conditional supporter tickets.

2) The supporter tickets wont be made available until the coming months. Personally, I want to lock down tickets / hotels / flights as soon as possible. Hence, I prioritize the FIFA window more than USSF.

 

Good points. The only thing I’ll add on this front is that joining the Premium Insiders now (even the $45 one) would still place you in a higher bucket for the lottery. I think you’d be in Bucket C, out of A through E, if they maintain the same structure. Could be something to consider if the FIFA TSTs fall through.

 

Any ideas from past experience how many tickets each Insider will be able to apply for? I see from today's USSF email re: the upcoming WCQ in Mexico that we can apply for 2 tickets each. I'm new to the Insiders. Is 2 tickets the norm, or might the WC applications allow for more tix?

 

A limit of 4 has been standard for the past few World Cups, both for FIFA and federation tickets, to the best of my knowledge. But the first round of ticketing this time allowed for up to 6. Granted, that was FIFA and not the federations, who might be able to set their own limits. I think 4 would be a good bet.

 

Fair. Any idea when USSF will do their lottery for conditional tix? May have to go that route if things dont go as planned.

 

In the last few World Cups, it was draw in December, federation application window in January, results in February. So maybe April/May? Things are a bit compressed this time.

Importantly, while USSF is in charge of the distribution, applications and everything are still done only through the FIFA portal.

 

Thanks. One last thing - why do you think I’d be in Bucket C out of E assuming I become an insider member now?