United States and England fans, among others, have run into issues while attempting to access their tickets at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. According to ESPN, the root of the issue is that the FIFA mobile app crashed on Monday.
An organizer of a United States fan group told ESPN that their tickets were on the FIFA ticketing app, which fans were planning to use to get into Monday's USMNT match against Wales. According to the report, the fans' tickets suddenly "disappeared" from their respective accounts.
The app issue also left fans unable to transfer tickets to other people ahead of the match, which is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. ET.
FIFA confirmed that "some spectators are currently experiencing an issue with accessing their tickets via the FIFA ticketing app" in a statement:
— FIFA Media (@fifamedia) November 21, 2022
Fans who are experiencing ticket issue have been told to go to the Doha Exhibition & Convention Center in the West Bay section of Qatar. There was reportedly a line of approximately 500 fans outside of the building, who were nervous that they wouldn't be able to attend the Americans' World Cup match.
In relation to Monday's match between England and Iran, fans said that that some of their tickets disappeared off the FIFA app altogether, while others were also told to go to stadium-specific help centers or the Doha Exhibition & Convention Center in West Bay.
ESPN also reported that English supporters were still trying to get into Khalifa International Stadium when the country's match was kicking off on Monday. There were also "excessively strict" security measures" in place for fans entering the stadium.
