THOUSANDS of Wales fans face a major scramble for World Cup final tickets.
The Dragons will take on USA, Iran and England in Qatar in their first finals in 64 years after beating Ukraine in Sunday’s play-off final.
Wales qualified for the 2022 World Cup after beating Ukraine in the play-offsCredit: Alamy
All three of Wales’ Group B matches are to be played at the 40,000-capacity Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan.
FIFA protocols state as little as five per cent of tickets need to be allocated to each country.
SunSport understands Wales have 25,000 members of their hardcore support, known as the ‘Red Wall’, but they will only have 2,300 briefs up for grabs for the Group B games.
Football Association of Wales chief executive Noel Mooney said: “The way it works with the FIFA protocols is that we only get about five per cent of the stadium, which I think it’s a 40,000 stadium, so five per cent of that is not a whole lot.
Mourinho, Conte and Ancelotti can’t all be wrong… Bale’s elite days are long gone
“We’ll have to work with FIFA and other angles to try and get as many tickets as we can for our supporters.
“You’d hope going to Qatar that we’d get a few thousand for each of the matches. We’ve got a huge membership, on Sunday we had 32,000 people in the stadium, it was a record crowd for us at the Cardiff City Stadium, every seat was gone.
“There’s a huge demand, we can feel it everywhere, whether it’s from supporters, companies and different sets of partners contacting us over the last few hours and days, who want to be part of this special journey that Cymru are on.”
Mooney, a former Head of Strategic Development at Uefa, explained where the other 90 per cent of tickets will go for their group matches.
Ticket prices and accommodation in Qatar are also a concern.
Mooney added: “I worked at Uefa for ten years and it’s a similar process to that we had with the Euros. There’s a huge amount of tickets which go to the people from the region.
“Part of the reason you award a Euros or World Cup to a country is to promote football in that region.
“So in the Middle East, which is not just Qatar, it’s the countries around, of course, they want as many locals to get to the games as well, so that’s one part of it.
FREE BETS AND SIGN UP DEALS – BEST NEW CUSTOMER OFFERS
Wales fans are scrambling for a World Cup ticket in Qatar after their qualificationCredit: Getty
“What I would also say is that FIFA and Uefa have huge commitments in terms of the other national associations, the ones that aren’t playing because it’s part of the celebration of football, there are 211 associations in world football. They have commitments to sponsors, media partners and hospitality.
“We’re liaising with FIFA to get all of our details. We’ll put out official information later this week.
“We’ve got travel partners who we’re working with to put packages together. It’s particularly challenging because we are coming in late to the party.”
