Damon Scotting, 26, and his 54-year-old father who shares the same name
(Picture: Anthony France)An Arsenal fan says he nearly missed two World Cup goals by Bukayo Saka amid Monday night’s Qatar ticketing fiasco that left hundreds of fans stuck outside.
Physics teacher Damon Scotting, 26, has the same name as his 54-year-old father, who was also at Khalifa International Stadium in Doha.
But Fifa’s official mobile ticket app thinks they are the same person and wiped Damon Jnr’s QR code entry to England’s Group B fixtures against Iran, the United States and Wales.
He only got in by taking a screenshot of Damon Snr’s ticket which fooled the turnstile computer. The Three Lions went on to thrash the Iranians 6-2.
Supporters were seen arguing with officials and frantically refreshing phones as the system crashed.
Others missed parts of the game after being told entry was closed and formed large queues at ticketing centres blaming Fifa chief executive Gianni Infantino, chanting “Infantino out!”
The Scottings, from Leicester, asked why organisers “couldn’t have just used paper tickets”.
Damon Jnr told the Standard: “To be honest I was just relived to get into the stadium because if we’d missed two World Cup goals by Saka, I would never have forgiven them.”
He added: “When I tried to get my tickets, it wiped all of them. As far as I know aware, I’m not seeing Wales or the USA. It’s an absolute nightmare.
“Ten minutes before kick-off, I was stuck in a half-an-hour queue to get our tickets printed.
“There was a bit of quick-thinking and I took a screenshot of Dad’s ticket. Because we’re both Damon Scotting, they let me come through too.
“For this to happened at only the second match of Qatar 2022, it couldn’t be worse for them. Why are they using QR codes and not physical tickets anyway?”
Construction boss Damon Snr said: “It’s a shambles. Technology is a great thing but when it goes wrong, it goes wrong. With so many fans turning up, who on earth thought generating a QR code would be a good idea?
“Fingers crossed they get it sorted for the Wales game. Other than that, I’m glad we saw the game. Saka was brilliant.”
Fifa acknowledged some fans were experiencing issues.
In a statement, the world football governing body told fans to check the email accounts they used to register with the app, or to go to ticket resolution points at the stadiums for help.
“Some spectators are currently experiencing an issue with accessing their tickets via the Fifa ticketing app. Fifa is working on solving the issue.
“We thank fans for their understanding as we work to fix the issue as soon as possible,” they said.
