• Fifa hope fans ‘will be able to enjoy matches as they envisaged’ • Buyers call for rethink in response to Twitter announcement

Fifa has told fans that ticketing arrangements for the forthcoming Women’s World Cup cannot be changed. The governing body said after receiving complaints it had made clear at the time of purchase that “not all seats would be located next to each other”.

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With the tournament in France due to start on 7 June, Fifa announced on Monday that tickets were now available to print at home. This led in some instances to complaints from people who, having assumed they had bought tickets together, discovered this was not the case.

“Dear fans. We have noted some of your comments, re: your tickets,” read a message on the tournament’s official Twitter account. “When you placed your order, a message indicating not all seats would be located next to each other did appear, before confirmation of your purchase. Unfortunately we will not be able to modify your order.

“However, an exception could be made for parents whose seats are not next to the seats of their underage children (18 years old and younger). For more info, do not hesitate to contact the ticketing customer service team.”

Disgruntled fans replied, calling the situation “ridiculous” and demanding the policy be changed. User @DavidMiller0789 replied: “Just a heads up that I’m not separating from my wife at a major sporting event on another continent. Fix this.”

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“It’s actually *more difficult* to randomize group seating than seat people together. @FIFAcom @FIFAWWC you’re going to need to reissue tickets. Call your ticketing vendor and sort this,” wrote @SnodgrassLaura.

Others noted that such a situation would be unlikely to occur at the men’s World Cup. “Why assign seats at all then?” wrote @Paul_Par. “It’s going to devolve into some kind of General Admission hybrid mayhem. They should have learned from what happened at the Men’s World Cup. Oh wait. They would never, ever exhibit this kind of idiocy for the men.”

Fifa provided another update several hours later. “The previous tweets regarding Fifa Women’s World Cup tickets allocation were published without a full understanding of the situation and we apologise for that,” they tweeted. “The issues were faced by less than 1% of fans requesting tickets for the semi finals and the final.”

“Fifa and the Local Organising Committee are confident the problems will be solved and the fans will be able to enjoy the matches as they envisaged.”

England and Scotland have both qualified and have been paired together in Group D. They meet in their first match, on 9 June.