Some Australian-based football fans vying for tickets to next year's Women's World Cup have been left empty-handed after a second phase of single-game sales began at 3am AEDT, with little communication or prior warning from FIFA.
Hundreds of fans have since taken to social media asking for clarification around ticket purchases after logging onto FIFA's website on Tuesday morning only to discover the allocation for the games they'd wanted to attend — including the Matildas' opening group-stage game against the Republic of Ireland in Sydney — were already exhausted.
While FIFA had announced that the second phase of sales would begin on November 1, there were no specific times listed so that local fans could plan ahead.
The official Women's World Cup Twitter account posted a link to the ticket page at 6am AEDT on Tuesday but, by that point, most tickets had already been snapped up, likely by fans overseas where the sales window opened at much friendlier hours.
"I was assuming they'd go on sale at 9am WST as per every other release but no! Very lucky I had a friend working night shift who just happened to check. Lucky again that I'm an insomniac so saw her message and was able to buy tickets to AUS v ROI and AUS v CAN for a friend. At 3am!," one Twitter user said.
"I bought tickets in the first #FIFAWWC early release & the process was so disorganised & confusing that it felt like a fever dream. Still not 100 per cent sure what tix I ended up with," another wrote.
There has also been a lack of ongoing communication from FIFA around ticket phases and availabilities.
The length of the purchasing windows has not been consistent across the first two phases of ticket sales — some were open for a week while others were open for longer — with little public information available about the differences.
Further adding to the confusion has been FIFA's use of language in particular sales phases.
While some games appear to be "sold out" on the website, FIFA confirmed that this phrasing refers to the exhaustion of a limited allocation of tickets in that particular phase.
More tickets for every game, including all three Matildas group games, will therefore be available in the "Last Minute Sales Phase" that opens on April 11 next year as part of the "100 Days To Go" milestone.
"Why didn't the AUS-NZ organising committee coordinate on the ticket release times with FIFA and insist on a strong marketing campaign to let locals know when to buy tickets?" one social media user asked.
It's also understood that there have been communication delays between the main FIFA team in Zurich and the local FIFA Subsidiary office based in Sydney due to the 10-hour time difference, which has affected the roll-out of certain ticket phases and the communication strategies meant to accompany them.
A FIFA spokesperson told the ABC that, despite anticipating 2023 to be the "biggest" Women's World Cup yet, it had experienced an "unprecedented" demand for tickets, which have sold more passes in the first month than what were sold in the first four months of the 2019 Women's World Cup in France.
"The demand for passes for many matches at next year's FIFA Women's World Cup has been unprecedented, and this only highlights the growth and popularity of the women's game as we strive for the biggest and best FIFA WWC in history," the spokesperson said.
"We acknowledge that, due to this demand, some fans have been unable to secure passes to some matches so far, however, passes for all fixtures will be available in the next sales phase."
Fans from exactly 100 different countries have already purchased tickets to the tournament, with the most coming from the co-hosting nations of Australia and New Zealand, followed by the US, England, China, Canada, Qatar, Germany, the Republic of Ireland and France.
More information on tickets can be found at FIFA's official website.
