Tickets for Socceroos games are highly sought after, despite the high cost. (Getty Images: Mark Nolan)
In short:
Australian fans are among the most active in requesting tickets for the FIFA World Cup.
Football Supporters Europe (FSE) accused FIFA of imposing "extortionate" ticket prices.
What's next?
The Socceroos have drawn hosts the United States, Paraguay and either Turkey, Romania, Slovakia or Kosovo for the group stage, which starts on June 11.
Australia is among the nations with the most ticket requests for next year's World Cup, despite an outcry from fan groups about high prices for the soccer tournament.
FIFA received five million requests for World Cup 2026 tickets in the first 24 hours of the latest sales phase, soccer's world governing body said on Friday.
Fans from more than 200 countries and territories applied via FIFA.com for seats at the first 48-team World Cup, which will be staged across the United States, Canada and Mexico from June 11 to July 19, 2026, according to the soccer body.
Football Supporters Europe (FSE) on Thursday called on FIFA to immediately halt sales of national team allocations, accusing the governing body of imposing "extortionate" ticket prices that risk shutting ordinary fans out of the tournament.
Ticket prices had jumped five-fold from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, according to FSE.
Early demand is being driven by high-profile group-stage clashes, with Colombia vs Portugal in Miami on June 27 the most sought-after fixture so far in the Random Selection Draw period.
Brazil vs Morocco (New York/New Jersey, June 13), Mexico vs South Korea (Guadalajara, June 18), Ecuador vs Germany (New York/New Jersey, June 25) and Scotland vs Brazil (Miami, June 24) round out the top five matches.
After the three host nations, the top countries of residence for ticket requests were Colombia, England, Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina, Scotland, Germany, Australia, France and Panama.
FIFA said the strong presence of South American and Central American fans showed how the tournament was capturing the imagination across the Americas, while Scotland's position reflected excitement over their first World Cup in 28 years.
The Random Selection Draw phase runs until January 13, with FIFA stressing the timing of an application within that window does not affect chances of success.
Fans can choose specific matches, ticket categories and quantities, subject to household limits, and will be charged automatically if their applications are successful.
AAP/Reuters
The ABC of SPORT
Sports content to make you think... or allow you not to. A newsletter delivered each Saturday.