Dubai: Football fans thronging the stadiums in Doha are catching all the action on the pitch - and engaging in some heavy spending too.
Spending by spectators at the matches since the start of the tournament on November 20 until December 2 has already exceeded - by 192 per cent - during the whole of the 2014 Brazil edition and ‘close to’ - at 89 per cent - getting past that the 2018 event in Russia.
This is according to the spending tracker by Visa, the payments company and an official FIFA World Cup partner. In Doha, up to December 2, almost 90 per cent of transactions were cashless and 88 per cent were contactless, ‘showcasing fans’ strong preference for digital ways to pay’.
The match with the highest average transaction amount was US vs Iran on November 29 ($29), with $14 average total on F&B, and $89 average on merchandise.
Higher spending patterns also reflect the pricing on goods brought on by natural progression over the years as well as factors such as inflation.
In-stadium spend
The average in-stadium transaction amount for all matches during the group stage in Doha was $23. Across these matches, the Top 3 spend categories were: Merchandise (47 per cent), F&B (36 per cent), and FIFA ticketing (11 per cent).
The Al Janoub stadium had the highest proportion of contactless payments (91 per cent) and the match with the highest proportion of contactless payments was Poland vs Saudi Arabia (96 per cent).
Lusail Stadium led in the total number of payment transactions during the group stage, with 22 per cent of payment volume coming from Qatar-issued Visa cards compared to 78 per cent from international Visa cards.
Stadium 974 saw the highest average transaction amount - $25 - with $15 USD average total on F&B, and an $80 average on merchandise.
For Qatar 2022, Visa enabled more payment terminals in official venues than ever before and are trialing some innovative new ways to pay around Qatar, so paying for things can be less cumbersome and fans can stay in the moment and focus on the game
Per match spend
The highest volume of in-stadium payment transactions was during the Saudi Arabia vs Mexico match on November 30, followed by the Argentina vs Mexico match on November 26. (For the record, Mexican cardholders spent almost four times more than Argentinian cardholders (29 per cent and 8 per cent, respectively).
Top 5 matches by spend
- Saudi Arabia vs Mexico: 5.1 per cent from total spend
- Argentina vs Mexico: 4.7 per cent from total spend
- Cameroon vs Brazil: 3.7 per cent from total spend
- Portugal vs Uruguay: 3.6 per cent from total spend
- Qatar vs Ecuador: 3.6 per cent from total spend
