Cutting it fine : World Cup Russia 2018

Cutting it fine: World Cup Russia 2018

So here we are in late May 2018 with less than 3 days to go before me & Fiona get on the first plane flight as part of our journey to Russia, and there is not a World Cup ticket in sight…??

When I booked our first batch of tickets in October last year, I carefully read the FIFA website that assured me that the ticket distribution for overseas visitors to Russia would be beginning in April this year and carry on into May. “No Worries”, I thought, plenty of time to have the tickets delivered and head off on our merry way…. The FIFA website told me that I would get an email confirmation when the tickets were dispatched, and maybe even a text message when they were with the DHL Express courier for delivery…. But oh no, with a couple of weeks to go with no tickets and no email, I started to get very concerned and try and contact FIFA to get some idea of what is happening.

Of course, it’s easier to steal secrets from the government than it is to get FIFA to communicate with you. Their web page allows you to fill in a contact form and send it to FIFA, but I can tell you from recent experience, all you get back is a standard email, “Thank you for your enquiry. Due to the many enquiries, we receive on a daily basis…. Blah blah blah…”. However, the email does include a phone number in Zurich, Switzerland, and once you have received several of these automated replies from FIFA, spending $20 to sit in a call system on the other side of the world for 20 minutes, starts to sound appealing.

With a just over a week to go, I relented and phoned FIFA, sat in a queue for 20 minutes, only to speak to a woman whose English was impeccable, but her knowledge of even the most basic elements of the FIFA ticket distribution process was sadly lacking…. She did reconfirm with me that all tickets were being distributed by DHL Express and that I would receive a confirmation when the tickets were on their way, all info I already knew….

Finally, with a week to go, I called DHL here in New Zealand who were strangely unaware that they are part of the distribution process for the World Cup tickets this year. However, I got put through to the Contact Centre Manager, and while he had no knowledge of DHL’s involvement in ticket distribution for the World Cup, he said he would look into the problem and get back to me. The Contact Centre Manager, Nick, reached out across the global DHL network, initially to understand what was happening, he then identified the right people at DHL in Italy, tracked down where my tickets were, and gave me a call to tell me they were on the way. Even though it has only been a few days, he kept me up to date with the situation all the way through, letting me know when the package was due to be on the plane down to Christchurch, and putting a hold on delivery so that I can collect the tickets in person. So with 3 days to go, I have now picked up the tickets from my local office and I could not be more relieved.

So many many Thanks to DHL Express in New Zealand for going the extra mile to help out someone who is not even a direct customer of theirs. And “Thanks for Nothing”, to FIFA for your lack of customer service and piss poor communication, you could learn a lot about customer service from DHL…

Getting Really Close Now : World Cup Russia 2018

Getting Really Close Now : World Cup Russia 2018

So last week, the ‘Last Minute’ Ticket Sales period opened for business, and unlike other years, we did not need to rush to get our hands on some missing tickets. Obviously, we have all the tickets we wanted, with the exception of the World Cup final match, that we will now only be able to get if we get incredibly lucky. I have maxed out my allocation of tickets, (tickets for 7 matches), so I am keeping my fingers crossed that either Yates or David are able to get their hands on those rarest of tickets…

As in the past, there may be a facility to get our hands on tickets that are returned before matches kick off, so we are hopeful that this option may be available to us. 

Anyway, here are the games for which we have tickets:

Match 4 – St. Petersburg - Morocco vs Iran
Match 17 – St. Petersburg - Russia vs Egypt
Match 25 – St. Petersburg - Brazil vs Costa Rica
Match  39 – St. Petersburg - Nigeria vs Argentina
Match 51 – Moscow - Winner of Group B v 2nd in Group A
Match 56 – Moscow - Winner of Group H v 2nd in Group G
Match 62 – Moscow - Winner of M59 v Winner of M60

The later matches in our schedule look like they could be interesting with the teams most likely to move forward from Groups A & B include teams such as Russia, Uruguay, Spain & Portugal, and any combination of those 4 teams would make for an exciting match. The teams most likely to progress out of Groups H & G are a bit more difficult to predict, but could include any 2 of the following 4 teams; Belgium, England, Poland & Columbia.

So we are getting close now…… For Fiona & I it is only 20 days until we start on our trip with a flight to Australia & Alice Springs. 19 days later we will meet up with Yates in St. Petersburg, which is just 8 days before the whole tournament kicks-off…. 

Happy New World Cup Year: World Cup 2018 Russia

Happy New World Cup Year: World Cup 2018 Russia

Wow, it's been a while since I last posted, but we are now well into 2018 and all the arrangements for our trip have now been made. 

Work has been busy for me for the past few months, so I have not really been thinking about the trip much. But now we are about halfway through March, I have suddenly realised that it is only about 2 month before we head away, (62 days in fact), and the excitement rises again. 

All the fights are arranged, the various hotels and AirBnB apartments booked and paid for, and nearly all the tickets we set out to buy have almost been brought. We are ready....

The full plan for Fiona & I is to head off to Australia for a couple of weeks in late

May, where we will be renting a camper van and driving from Alice Springs to Sydney.... From there we fly to St. Petersburg where we will meet Yates and a rotating cast of his family members, staying for about 3 weeks, and attending 4 matches. At the end of June we will transition from St. Petersburg to Moscow, where we spend almost another 3 weeks, taking in 3 matches, and if we can get tickets, the World Cup final, before Fiona & I head off to Barcelona to celebrate Fiona's birthday for a week or so.... The last leg of our trip will be a handful of days in Hong Kong to depressurise and relax from our hectic holiday schedule, before heading back toward the New Zealand Winter.....

Only 90 Days until the World Cup Kicks off....

The results of the World Cup Finals Draw: World Cup 2018 Russia

The results of the World Cup Finals Draw: World Cup 2018 Russia

So after 3 years of qualifying and hundreds and hundreds of games of football around the globe, the draw for the World Cup Finals in Russia took place last weekend, and we now know which teams we will be seeing in the group matches we already have tickets for. They are: -

Match 4 - Morocco vs Iran

Match 17 - Russia vs Egypt

Match 25 - Brazil vs Costa Rica

Match  39 - Nigeria vs Argentina

So whilst the Morocco v Iran game is a bit of a low-wattage match, the other 3 games in the group stage look quite good. From experience, it is always great when you can attend a match with the world cup hosts involved, as there is generally a great atmosphere, and Russia v Egypt could be a significant game in the scheme of things, (Egypt are my tip of a bit of a dark horse…!). And anytime you get to see Brazil or Argentina play is always a special event, so overall, I am quite happy with the draw so far. 

Using my understanding of the relative strengths and weaknesses of each of the teams, and based on who I think will finish 1^st & 2^nd in their respective groups, there could be a good chance that we could see later games in the tournament involving teams such as Spain, Uruguay & England. And if my "guessing" is correct and matches go to form, there is a potential Argentina v Germany semi-final in our future… How about that….!

The next round of Ticket Sales open in the next few days, and we are still after tickets to Match 56 and the elusive World Cup Final match, so keep your fingers crossed for us that we do well in the next random lottery.

We have Tickets..... Yay : World Cup 2018 Russia

We have Tickets..... Yay : World Cup 2018 Russia

Well stone the crows…..!!

The result of the First Sales Phase lottery are in, and we have been very, very lucky and scooped almost all the tickets we requested, how about that….!!

We have received confirmation of match tickets for each of the following 6 games, out of the 8 games that wanted to see: 

• M4  - Friday, 15 June 2018 - 18.00 - St. Petersburg
• M17 - Tuesday, 19 June 2018 - 21.00 - St. Petersburg (this game will include the hosts Russia)
• M25 - Friday, 22 June 2018 - 15.00 - St. Petersburg
• M39 - Tuesday, 26 June 2018 - 21.00 - St. Petersburg
• M51 - Sunday, 1 July 2018 - 17.00 -  Moscow Luzhniki
• M62 - Wednesday, 11 July 2018 - 21.00 -  Moscow Luzhniki 

We missed out on the following:

• M56 - Tuesday, 3 July 2018 - 21.00 - Moscow Spartak
• M64 (World Cup Final) – Sunday, 15 July 2018 - 18.00 -  Moscow Luzhniki 

I am not surprised about not getting the Finals tickets, as they are always in high demand, but we still have 4 additional sales phase to try and get the remaining tickets.

Now all we need is the qualification to finish and the draw to take place to know what matches we will be attending at next summer’s competition.

Only 227 Days, 18 hours, 25 minutes until the 2018 World Cup kicks off...!!

Tickets go on Sale… What..?? : World Cup 2018 Russia

Tickets go on Sale… What..?? : World Cup 2018 Russia

Well, unbeknownst to me, and at odds with any information I have previously found on the FIFA website, or any other site on the internet come to that, the first of the ticket sales phases for World Cup 2018 Russia has started…??

The Sales Phases are organised as follows:

Sales Phase 1

-     Random Selection Lottery Period – From 14^th September to 12^th October 2017

-     First Come, First Served Period – From 14^th November to 28^th November 2017

Sales Phase 2

-     Random Selection Lottery Period – From 5^th December 2017 to 31^st January 2018

-    First Come, First Served Period – From 13^th March to 3^rd April 2018

Last Minute Sales Phase – From 18^th April to 15^th July 2018

So that means that Yates and I need to sort our ticketing strategy to make the most of the 5 available opportunities we have to buy tickets. We need a ticketing strategy as we are after tickets for 8 location-specific matches, split between St. Petersburg & Moscow, for up to 8 people. This is a problem in itself as applicants can only apply for a max of up to 7 matches, and for a maximum of up to 4 tickets per match. But we have a cunning plan…..

If ticketing works out the way it has over the past handful of World Cups, we will get some of the tickets we want in each sales phase, with the only real sticking point being getting our hands on tickets for the World Cup Final, which we have been unable to do for the past 6 World Cup Tournaments. But we will be in Moscow at the time of the Final and will try everything we can to get are sweaty little hands on those oh so elusive Finals tickets…. 

Wish us luck…!

Ticketing & Fan-ID Visa Travel: World Cup 2018 Russia

Ticketing & Fan-ID Visa Travel: World Cup 2018 Russia

Here is a short update regarding ticketing timeframes and the proposed FAN-ID Travel Visa Waiver details.

Now that this year’s Confederations Cup has successful completed in Russia, and Germany have once again successfully walked away with yet another trophy, it is time to keep an eye out for more detail about the ticketing process for 2018. At the back end of last week, TASS, the state approved news agency for Russia, announced that the draw for the group stage of the 2018 World Cup will take place on Friday, December 1 at the State Kremlin Palace inside the Moscow Kremlin. This is completely in line with timetable of previous world cups draws, so no surprises there. What was surprising though was that on the same day, the Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko announced that tickets for the 2018 FIFA World Cup will go on sale on Friday, December 1, effectively after the World Cup Draw has taken place…!!

This is a MASSIVE bombshell..! Since we started our World Cup tournament odyssey, match tickets were already on sale, and sometimes even two sales phases in, well before the Finals draw was made. In 2006 in Germany we were already buying tickets in May, well over a year before the tournament kicked off, and in 2010 in South Africa & 2014 in Brazil, we already purchased the majority of the match tickets we wanted before the World Cup Finals draw was even made.

“So what the problem with that…?”

Well, this means that anyone interested in going to the World Cup in 2018 will know exactly who is playing who for every match, and therefore applying for the games they really want to see. 

“And why is that such a problem…?”

Well, I think we have always had a bit of an advantage over those people that wanted to know the draw before ordering tickets, in that we could buy tickets for specific locations in the early sales phase when no one knew who was playing in that match, and there was, in theory, less demand. Now, if one of the matches we want to see in St. Petersburg or Moscow have the hosts, or one of the favourites playing, there will be much more demand for those tickets. I can see this causing us a possible headache in December when we want to buy tickets…!!

In other, slightly more positive news, details about the use of the mandated FAN-ID process and how they are to be used as Travel Visa’s to get in to Russia next year are beginning to seep out. Firstly, Russian media have reported that it takes only 72 hours to process an application for a FAN-ID, which is great for those of us that need one issued before we can enter into Russia. Assuming that we get some tickets in the early part of the initial sales phase, (starting December 1st 2017), then it should only be a matter of weeks after our ticket order is accepted before we can apply for our FAN-IDs,and they arrive in our mailbox, which will hopefully be months before we start our travels towards Russia in May.

Secondly, and it depends on which news source you read, the FAN-ID will be valid for entry into Russia 10 days before the tournament starts and for 10 days after, which is just about perfect for us. There is some confusion around this as I have also read that the FAN-ID will be valid for travel into Russia 10 days before, and after the date of the first/last game for which you have a ticket purchased from FIFA.com…. Whilst this is a little more restrictive in terms of timings, as we are aiming to arrive in St. Petersburg on the 6^th June and the first game we want tickets for is on the 15^th, (9 days before), and the last game we want to attend is on the 11^th July, (assuming we cannot get tickets for the Final on 15^th), and we are planning on leaving Russia on the 19^th July (8 days after), we should be okay. So it appears that we should be able to get our FAN-IDs issued well before we need them and that they will cover us for entry & exit to Russia in the time we are proposing to be there… 

It's not all bad news....