FIFA appears to have technical difficulties with World Cup ticket sales

FIFA appeared to have technical difficulties when it resumed World Cup ticket sales on Wednesday after the 48-team field was finalised.

Soccer's governing body did not say which games and price categories were available.

Some people who clicked on what FIFA called its "last-minute sales phase" when sales opened at 11 a.m. EDT were directed into a queue for "PMA late qualifier supporters sales phase," aimed for a segment of fans for the six nations who earned berths on Tuesday.

FIFA appeared to have lengthy waits to purchase tickets, with people who joined the queue at the start still waiting to get through the queue 90 minutes later.

FIFA did not have an explanation for why the link misdirection occurred but said around noon that the links were working properly.

FIFA also said that not all remaining tickets were being put on sale for the 104 games to be played in the United States (US), Mexico and Canada from June 11 to July 19 and that additional tickets will be released on a rolling basis.

This was the fifth phase of ticket sales following a Visa presale draw from September 10-19, an early ticket draw from October 27-31, a random selection draw from December 11 to January 13 and an unscheduled 48-hour availability in late February.

FIFA said this phase, which will remain open through the tournament, marked the first time a specific seat location could be purchased rather than a request for a ticket in a category.

FIFA is using dynamic pricing for the tournament, which will be played in 11 US cities plus three in Mexico and two in Canada.

For the month-long sales phase after the December 5 draw, tickets were priced at $140 to $8,680. After complaints, FIFA said $60 tickets would be made available to each participating national federation for their most loyal supporters, an amount likely to be 400-700 per team for each match.

FIFA also has its own resale market, collecting 15 per cent from both the buyer and seller.

-AP