Consumer spending (by value) so far at the ongoing FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 is close to exceeding total spending for the 2018 edition and has already exceeded total spending at the 2014 tournament, according to Visa, the official payment technology partner of FIFA.
The released spend data on Visa cards pertains to all official FIFA World Cup venues from the start of tournament through group matches stage on December 2. It showed that the payments so far has reached 89% of 2018 payments and 192% of 2014 edition.
The data revealed that 88% of Visa payments at official Qatar 2022 venues have been contactless.
Between kick-off on November 20 to the final group stage match on December 2, it said 70% of all consumer spend by value at official FIFA World Cup venues was on internationally issued Visa cards with the US (18%) leading, followed by Mexico (9%) and Saudi Arabia (8%).
"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 beautiful game," said Dr. Saeeda Jaffar, senior vice president and group country manager, GCC - Visa.
The average in-stadium transaction amount for all matches during the group stage of the tournament play was $23. During all matches the top three spend categories were: merchandise (47%), food and beverages or F&B (36%), and FIFA ticketing (11%).
Al Janoub stadium had the highest proportion of contactless payments (91%) and the match with the highest proportion of contactless payments was Poland vs Saudi Arabia (96%).
Lusail Stadium led all stadiums for the total number of payment transactions during the group stage, with 22% of payment volume coming from Qatar-issued Visa cards vs 78% from international Visa cards.
Stadium 974 saw the highest average transaction amount ($25), with $15 average total on F&B purchases, and $80 average on merchandise.
On per match spend; Visa data found that highest volume of in-stadium payment transactions was Saudi Arabia-Mexico match on November 30, followed by the Argentina-Mexico match on November 26.
Mexican cardholders spent almost four times more than Argentinian cardholders (29% and 8%, respectively) during the Argentina vs Mexico match.
The match with the highest average transaction amount was USA vs Iran on November 29 ($29), with $14 average total on F&B purchases, and $89 average on merchandise.
The top five matches by spend, according to Visa was Saudi Arabia-Mexico (Match 40; November 30): 5.1% from total spend; Argentina-Mexico (Match 24; November 26): 4.7%; Cameroon-Brazil (Match 48; December 2): 3.7%; Portugal- Uruguay (Match 32; November 28): 3.6%; and Qatar-Ecuador (Match 1; November 20): 3.6%.
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