Hundreds of seats remained empty as England kicked off against Iran at the Khalifa International Stadium on Monday, when both nations began their Qatar World Cup campaigns.
There were reports of a two-hour-long queue outside the stadium, with Fifa saying ‘ticketing issues’ were to blame, before the remaining fans began to walk in – seemingly without any checks taking places.
As a result of the queue, what looked like hundreds of seats were still empty as Gareth Southgate’s side began their World Cup with the Group B game against Iran.
“Some fans are currently experiencing an issue with accessing their tickets via the FIFA Ticketing app,” Fifa said in a statement.
“FIFA is working on resolving the issue. In the meantime, fans who are not able to access their mobile tickets should check the email accounts they used to register with the Ticketing app for further instructions.
“In case fans cannot access their email accounts, the stadium’s Ticket Resolution Point will be able to support. We thank fans for understanding as we work to fix the issue as soon as possible.”
This was following Sunday’s opening game of the tournament, where thousands of Qatar fans left at half-time as the host team entered the break with a 2-0 deficit against Ecuador.
Ecuador went on to win the Group A clash by the same scoreline.
