Demand for World Cup tickets exceeds supply

Over a million fans from around the world have applied for more than 10 million tickets for the 2006 World Cup, 12 times the number available, after a last-minute rush concluded the first round of sales. World Cup organizers made 812,000 tickets available in a two-month sales period that ended on Thursday. About half the applications ticket allotment came in the final week and almost a quarter on the last day, organisers said on Friday. "This impressive figure confirms the phenomenal interest from across the globe," FIFA General Secretary Urs Linsi said in a statement. "The orders came from 195 countries. I cannot remember that a World Cup has excited a comparable interest in such a short time period." Tickets will be allocated by a lottery starting on 15 April. Fans should know by the end of April if they have been successful, although tickets will not be issued until six to eight weeks before the tournament. Demand has been greatest for the final on 9 July, the semi-finals on 4-5 July and the opening game on 9 June, likely to feature hosts Germany, the only team guaranteed to have qualified. Almost three quarters of applicants were from Germany. There were more applications than tickets for all 64 matches in the World Cup finals. More team-specific tickets will be available in the next sales round from May 1 to November 15. A third lottery-based sale will take place from 1 December to 15 January, with any remaining tickets offered from February 1 to April 15 in order of application. Any lastminute sales will take place from May 2006. Organisers are promising a further 300,000 tickets for fans in these subsequent sales, taking the total to just over 1.1 million tickets guaranteed for public sale out of the 2.93 million available.

Source: euFootball.BIZ © Copyright 2006 - All rights reserved.