Ticket issues plague FIFA Women’s World Cup as fans pushed into nosebleeds

Fans are fuming after a series of ticket bungles has left diehard Matildas supporters empty-handed, or banished to the nosebleeds.

Football fans from around the world have been left irate and in some cases, empty-handed after the final round of ticket sales for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup concluded this week.

The tournament is the first FIFA Women’s World Cup to feature more than one host nation, and is also the first senior World Cup for either sex to be held across multiple confederations.

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Fans have hit out after a variety of ticketing bungles left some of the Matildas’ most dedicated supporters were pushed into the nosebleeds after unprecedented demand saw the national side’s Sydney-based group game moved from CommBank Stadium in Parramatta to the 82,500 capacity Accor Stadium.

Fans complained that FIFA procedures around the ticket allocation have left fans who got in early with presale tickets, in some cases at a greater expense, were pushed further away from the pitch.

Some fans claimed they wouldn’t have bought tickets had they known that their views could have gotten worse.

Sam Kerr is arguably the best player in the world, but not everyone who shelled out top dollar will get the best view of her skills. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

“Superfan” Kris Goman told The Age that she bought tickets within 10 minutes of the presale opening, and had been “allocated seats in the sky”.

“Some people took the day off work to get the tickets,” she said.

“They’ve done this in good faith, and they’ve been allocated seats in the sky.

“If I’d known I’d been seated in the gods, no way in hell would I have bought those tickets.”

Jessica Lees is a footballer and diehard Matildas fan from New South Wales’ far north coast, and told news.com.au that while she got tickets, she “paid a premium” for her category 1 tickets, and was still “pushed way up to the nosebleeds.”

“In the fine print apparently, it says that category 1 can include anywhere from the sideline to the back row.

“Why even categorise it then?”

Despite being pushed to the back, Lees is philosophical about what it meant for the World Cup.

“It means people care and want to watch women’s sport, which is great,” she said.

Sydney lawyer Alison Thompson criticised the language used by the game’s governing body in describing category 1 tickets, which cost $60 for an adult attending a group stage fixture involving Australia or New Zealand.

“We paid for Category 1 tickets, apparently the ‘highest priced and located in prime areas within the stadium’, but our seats are on the sixth level.”

The Matildas are set to become the biggest names in world sport later this year, and are already the nation’s most beloved national side.

Thompson also criticised the management of the initial release of tickets.

“The worst part was the allocation of tickets that were released in November last year,” she said.

“Tickets were released, but FIFA didn’t announce what time they were going to be released so the allocation was exhausted by the time we checked at 9am.”

The ticketing portal itself was reportedly plagued with issues, with some fans complaining about the lack of clarity in messaging for patrons.

Sydney football fan Roisin Murphy complained of the useability of the ticket portal, calling it an “emotional rollercoaster”.

Murphy shifted travel plans to attend the Matildas’ opening fixture against Ireland, but couldn’t get a hold of tickets.

“I feel like I’ve been waiting my whole life for this World Cup,” they said.

“I managed to adjust (my) plans to make sure I was in Sydney for the opening round (against Ireland), which as an Australian with Irish background felt especially important.

“I understand FIFA made mistakes early on due to (choice of) venue, but the demand for this game is unavoidably crazy - there’s a home crowd in Sydney and a large Irish expat community.

“I jumped onto the link 20 minutes early and am already witnessing how slowly the queue is moving.

“Tickets opened up at midday, at which point I’d been on the link for 20 minutes, and it’s still another half-hour to 40 minutes before I’m even into the site.

“At that stage it gives me a screen which says there are tickets available, but a low capacity left, so I go into the game link and there are multiple ticket options available, but every time I clicked ‘add to cart’, it said there was an error.

“Every time I refreshed it, there were still more tickets available, I just couldn’t add them to my cart.

“It (went) on for a good half-hour until eventually it just said ‘sold out’.”

Ellie Carpenter recently returned from an ACL tear, giving the Matildas a huge boost for their win over the Lionesses. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

Murphy’s experience is consistent with a litany of other fan experiences, with SEN’s Charles Goodsir likening it to buying concert tickets.

Dozens of other fans contacted news.com.au with similar experiences buying tickets.

A spokesperson for FIFA said that ticketing maps had been available from “the very beginning of ticket sales back in October 2022”.

The spokesperson told The Age that the “first come, first serve basis” referred to in ticket sales information referred to actual ticket availability, and not the location of the seats.

The email sent to fans who contacted FIFA said “the number of seats / standing areas allocated to each Ticket Category and the boundaries of each Ticket Category within a stadium may change from Match to Match and are determined by FIFA AUS/NZL at its sole discretion.”

Academic and Matildas fan Katren Rogers said it was “poor communication by FIFA”.

“’First in first served’ concerned ticket purchases, not seat allocations,” she said.

Another fan, Vince Scarcella, said “football seat allocations almost always suck and at a World Cup, it is only worse due to high demand.”

“Category 1, 2 and 3 in football terms are unfortunately almost always about proximity to halfway as opposed to proximity to the pitch,” he said.

Originally published as Ticket issues plague FIFA Women’s World Cup as fans pushed into nosebleeds