80 per cent of request is from Brazil

The world football governing body, FIFA, on Friday said that fans were requesting more than 3.5 million tickets for the second World Cup sales phase.

The FIFA Marketing Director in charge of ticketing, Thierry Weil, made this known in Rio de Janeiro.

Mr. Weil said that the requests came from 199 countries and regions with host nation Brazil comprising nearly 80 per cent of the demand.

“With a little more than three million tickets available at the 12 stadiums, the requests are at least 10 times more than the inventory we have available,” he said.

He stated that nationals or residents of the 32 participating teams have until February 7 to request tickets on the FIFA website. He said successful applicants would be notified following an electronic draw supervised by Brazilian government officials in February.

“The next sale phase begins March 12, offering tickets on a first come, first served basis,” he said.

However, the World Cup would be staged in 12 Brazilian cities from June 12 to July 13, 2014.

(Xinhua/NAN)