World Cup 2022 tickets to be cheaper than IPL tickets
By Mudeet Arora
Tickets to watch a group stage game at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar will cost less than those to watch an Indian Premier League (IPL) T20 game at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium.
It will cost you 250 Qatari Riyal (around 5,211 Indian rupees or $68.66) to watch Spain vs Germany at the World Cup, but the price of mid-level tickets for a general IPL game is almost double.
The FIFA ticketing portal also shows the cheapest ticket for the World Cup final at the Lusail Stadium in Doha on December 18 to cost approximately 45,828 Indian rupees ($601.5), which is the only ticket that is more than the most expensive IPL match ticket sold for a single game this season by just 10,000 Indian rupees ($131.3).
This is one of the main reasons why India is one of the highest buyers of Qatar 2022 tickets when you compare geographic sales to other countries.
After India came seventh in the list of most tickets sold in the first round of sales, John Parker from BH Hospitality, official FIFA partners, said: "India provides a goldmine of absolutely first-class football supporters. We all know about the love for cricket in India but I think the world is starting to wake up to its love for football as well.
"If I was three hours away from the biggest festival of football, the chance of you being that close to the World Cup without hosting it is almost going to be impossible."
Tickets for group stage games, except the opening game, have not been this cheap since the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
Qatar have already subsidized the cost of tickets for their citizens to just Rs. 834 ($11) for group stage games, which is the lowest a host nation has charged home fans since Mexico did in the 1986 World Cup.