Hundreds of fans left stranded outside stadium for England World Cup game after FIFA ticket app crashes

Hundreds of England fans were left stranded outside the Khalifa International Stadium after the FIFA ticketing app crashed.

England played Iran in their Group B opener at the 45,000 capacity stadium but kick off happened with thousands of empty seats visible.

Tickets for the tournament are digital as opposed to physical, paper copies but the app whereby the ticket is situated glitched out at the worst possible time.

Bizarrely, tickets completely disappeared from the app and that led to a large crowd gathering outside the ground, with locals and supporters from both sets of supporters affected.

There were even chants of “Infantino out!” aimed at FIFA president Gianni Infantino and The Telegraph estimate that the stadium was 80 per cent full for when the first ball was kicked.

One fan told the outlet: “I woke up to find a message saying tickets not found. I’ve bought tickets for the whole family - it’s cost me about £800.

“I went to the centre in the middle of Doha and they told me to go to the game. Now there’s a huge queue and no one seems to know what’s going on. It’s a shambles.”

FIFA issued a statement on the chaos, pledging to work to resolve the issue as soon as possible and reminding fans to check their email accounts as well as direct them to the ticketing centre for support.

"Some spectators are currently experiencing an issue with accessing their tickets via the FIFA ticketing app. FIFA is working on solving the issue.

"In the meantime, fans who are not able to access their mobile tickets should check the email account they used to register with the Ticketing app for further instructions."

One video doing the rounds appeared to show fans walking through the turnstiles without any tickets being checked on entry, with security completely unmoved.

In terms of the action on the pitch, England found themselves 3-0 up at half-time after a stunning start to the campaign.

Jude Bellingham opened the scoring with his first international goal, before Bukayo Saka and Raheem Sterling struck in quick succession.

Featured Image Credit: Twitter/@Matt_Lawton & @HeatherCTV

Topics: England, Football World Cup

Josh Lawless

Josh is a sports journalist who specialises in football and wrestling. He has been published by Curzon Ashton FC, Late Tackle, Manchester City FC, The Mirror, Read Man City and Manchester Evening News. He provides coverage of professional wrestling and has interviewed some of the biggest names in the field - including the first UK interview with The Hardy Boyz after their return to WWE. He has never sported a pair of Lonsdale Slip-ons, contrary to reports.

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