Hundreds of England fans were reportedly left completely stranded outside the Khalifa International Stadium in Qatar this afternoon, after facing issues with FIFA's official ticketing app.
Footage shown by the BBC during coverage of the Group B opener between England and Qatar showed long queues around the 45, 416 capacity ground - with fuming fans speaking directly to reporters after missing kick off between the sides.
Photographs also showed supporters who were attempting to resolve issues by queuing for 'printed tickets' after their digital versions seeming disappeared from apps on mobile phones.
Read more: England fans fume as BBC iPlayer goes down at World Cup 2022 kick off
Speaking during the live BBC iPlayer coverage of the event at half time, one fan said: "My frustrations today. I've got a ticket for the game this evening, but my ticket does not load on the hire app which is because the system's now crashed and it's saying there's no way for us to get access to the application.
"I think all of these people here are struggling with the same issues."
Another, added: "We came out two and a half, three hours early. We've come all the way to Qatar to watch a couple of England games, we had our tickets sorted. We paid £150 for each ticket and £800 for the flights you know? The tickets disappeared."
A third visibly angry fan, continued: "Nobody is telling us anything, there's no announcements. People are saying you can get in if you've got a hire card, but there's no official announcement. Here we are, the greatest football show on Earth...brilliant!"
And further fans took to social media to complain about problems they and others had faced this afternoon, trying to gain access to the Doha-based stadium.
One penned: "What's going on with the fifa ticket platform. A lot of people have info that their tickets just disappeared," while another, added: "No beer allowed and now FIFAs ticket app has crashed. The #WorldCup is off to a fantastic start."
FIFA went on to comment on the situation later in the afternoon, taking to Twitter to release an official statement. It read: "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 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 their understanding as we work to fix the issue as soon as possible."
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