PARIS — FIFA has withdrawn a claim that 1 million tickets have been sold for the Women’s World Cup and now says the total includes people paying nothing to attend games, including VIPs and even medical staff.
FIFA deleted a tweet posted on Tuesday that said: “One million tickets for the (at)FIFAWWC 2019 have now been sold!”
The sport’s governing body told The Associated Press on Wednesday that 1 million tickets had been “allocated,” which includes those sold to fans and provided for free.
FIFA says the 1 million total also includes “delegations of the teams playing, commercial affiliates, observers, medical and technical staff.”
FIFA has already pulled back from a claim that 20 of the 52 matches were sold out, saying Tuesday that only 14 matches had no availability.