By Robbie Blakeley, Senior Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Of the first phase of sales, the remaining World Cup tickets were gone within seven hours yesterday. Over one million tickets have been made available so far for purchase by FIFA, world football’s governing body, with 890,000 being allocated via random draw to those who had made an application via the FIFA website.
The last 200,000 or so were put up for sale in this round on a first come first served basis and didn’t last the day as interest in the 2014 World Cup remains strong. Unsurprisingly, over sixty percent of those bought went to Brazilians with sales to the U.S. and England also registering in the top five.
FIFA Marketing Director Thierry Weil is responsible for ticketing and was delighted at the demand. “The level of interest was impressive, in fact four times greater than during the first sales window [the random draw].”
“It was great to see both internationals and Brazilians were aiming to grab the remaining tickets from the first batch made available. This clearly shows the huge appeal of attending the World Cup live in Brazil,” he said.
The high demand for tickets follows the trend set during June’s Confederations Cup. Primarily seen as a dress rehearsal for the World Cup, the tournament nevertheless received more fans than the previous events in South Africa and Germany combined.
The next phase of ticket sales for June and July’s World Cup will go on sale on December 8th. That follows the group stage draw for the World Cup on December 6th, to be held in the Northeastern state of Bahia.
Tickets can be ordered online at www.fifa.com/ticketing
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