England fans to be outnumbered by Iranians ten to one at opening World Cup game
ENGLAND fans will be outnumbered ten to one by Iranians at the opening game.
The Three Lions were allocated 2,489 seats for the November 21 clash and are believed to have struggled to fill the allocation.
But at least 30,000 Iranians will hop across the Persian Gulf to the 45,400-seater venue in Doha.
England fans have balked at the cost of travel, accommodation and £13 pints but support could be boosted by expats.
England have 4,158 tickets for the USA match at the 60,000-capacity Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor on November 25.
Only the Wales match four days later is oversubscribed.
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At least 7,000 England supporters travelled to Kaliningrad for the final group stage match in June, 2018.
Demand from travelling fans peaked in 2006 when a colossal 19,000 England fans clamoured to tickets to see the star-studded 2006 team led by David Beckham in Germany.
This year’s tournament is set to be the most expensive World Cup yet, with the oil rich Middle Eastern state poised to spend a staggering £200 billion.
But the cost-of-living crisis has combined with huge travel costs and compelled the vast majority of England fans to stay home.
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The FA said: “We’re expecting to see just two to three thousand England fans travelling out to Qatar this year, which is very low for a World Cup.
“Some fans have tickets to the semi-final and final so the numbers should increase.”
Dozens of disgruntled football supporters have taken to social media to protest the cost of travelling to Qatar.
Mohamed Amiin said: “I don’t understand why people want to go to Qatar to watch the world cup - everything is so expensive, and it will be a culture shock for most people, so it will be chaos I reckon.
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“Why waste money there?”
Another fan tweeted: “Football is for the elite. We can’t afford Qatar.”