23.5 million tickets sought in latest Qatar 2022 World Cup sale: FIFA

The most sought-after games are the final on December 18 alongside some of the group games of Argentina v Mexico, Argentina v Saudi Arabia, England v United States and Poland v Argentina, FIFA said in a statement.
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Qatar is set to become the first Arab country to host the world's biggest football tournament, later this year [Getty]

FIFA said Friday that 23.5 million World Cup tickets were requested in the latest round of sales for the tournament that starts in Qatar in less than seven months.

Applications from Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Mexico, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United States dominated, the world body said highlighting the "enormous demand".

The most popular games are the final on December 18 alongside some of the group games which are already known: Argentina v Mexico, Argentina v Saudi Arabia, England v United States and Poland v Argentina, FIFA said in a statement.

For matches where demand exceeds the number of tickets available, the requests will go into a random lottery. All the successful applicants will be told from May 31. Any remaining tickets will then go on general sale on a first-come first-served basis.

Ticket prices are on average about 30 percent higher than for the Russia World Cup in 2018. The cheapest tickets are allocated for for Qataris and migrant workers in the small Gulf state.

But for the final, the most expensive tickets cost more than $1,600- a 45 percent hike on 2018.

Some 804,186 tickets were snapped up in the first round of sales in January-February.

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Demand this 23 day window for applications was higher, as it followed the World Cup draw on April 1 which revealed when and where each team will play.

About two million tickets are available to the general public, with 1.2 million others going to sponsors and other backers.

The first match between Senegal and Netherlands is on November 21 and the final on December 18 at the 80,000 capacity Lusail stadium.

Qatar is predicting that up to 1.4 million people will visit the wealthy Gulf state for the first World Cup in an Arab country.

Qatar has spent billions of dollars building seven new stadiums and refurbishing an eighth for the tournament.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has promised it will be the "best-ever" World Cup and the global body is looking to the healthy ticket sales to back its case.