Fans around the world have vented their anger after errors and delays in purchasing tickets from the Fifa Women鈥檚 World Cup ticket site.
Single match passes came back on sale at 2pm today (NZT) as European fans woke in the middle of the night to secure the remaining tickets.
鈥淲orst f**ing ticketing system in the world,鈥 one fan said on Twitter.
Another called out the governing body: 鈥淚t鈥檚 3am in England and your ticket system isn鈥檛 working (it鈥檚 asking me to refresh constantly).鈥
When arriving on the site, fans are asked to submit a unique code. After doing so, a red banner pops-up saying 鈥減lease refresh the page鈥. People are having to continue refreshing but can鈥檛 get through 鈥 as some eventually get through the initial step but were met with a large waiting queue.
Desperate fans have also tried to get through on several different devices 鈥 working for some but not for others.
鈥淚鈥檓 so stressed,鈥 says one.
鈥淭ry using Safari! I had the same issue on Google Chrome, now I鈥檝e switched and it鈥檚 working,鈥 another commented.
听鈥淏affling that they鈥檇 choose 2pm for NZ/AU and 3am for the majority of countries represented in the World Cup. Why not go for 8pm so at least this disaster of a ticketing system is happening at 9am,鈥 said one user.
A New Zealand-based Fifa spokesperson told the听贬别谤补濒诲听that people need to 鈥渃lear their cache in their browser鈥.
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鈥漎ou want to clear it from the last four weeks,鈥 says the spokesperson.
That will get ticket purchasers through the first step, then they鈥檒l join a queue. Fifa said the wait time in the queue could be longer due to the high demand.
It comes after Fifa hosted an event at Eden Park with hundreds of fans earlier on Tuesday, to celebrate the 100-days countdown until the event starts, and ticket sales coming back online.
Prior to any issues, fans were required to create a听before single tickets will become available to purchase on a first-come, first-served basis.
Fans were encouraged to get to the site early as 鈥渆arlier purchases have a higher chance of success than purchases processed later in the sale phase鈥, Fifa said on its website.
At Eden Park on Tuesday, tournament head of marketing Kim Anderson said there鈥檚 been an 鈥渦nprecedented demand for tickets鈥, so the advice was to buy early and not wait until the tournament has started to secure a spot at the world鈥檚 biggest women鈥檚 sporting event in July and August.
Anderson has anticipated record-breaking crowds as women鈥檚 sport 鈥 particularly football 鈥 goes through a 鈥渃ultural movement鈥 and is 鈥渆xploding all around the world.
鈥淎ustralia and New Zealand are such a bucket list destination,鈥 Anderson added. 鈥淲e鈥檝e seen so much excitement for people to come to this region from a whole bunch of different nationalities across the world.鈥
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