More than one million ticket requests for matches at next year’s FIFA World Cup in Brazil have been submitted within seven hours of the beginning of the first phase of ticket sales, world football’s governing body has confirmed.
The games that have been particularly inundated with requests are somewhat predictable.
The opening fixture on June 12, which will feature the host nation against a yet-unknown team at the currently under-construction Arena de São Paulo, has already received more than 168,000 requests, nearly enough to fill the stadium three times over, while the final, to be held at the revamped Maracanã, has been only slightly less oversubscribed with more than 165,000 requests – more than double the amount of seats in the stadium.
About 3.3 million tickets for the World Cup will be made available, with international fans facing costs of between $440 and $990 for the showpiece final on July 13, while prices for the opening match range from $220 to $495.
If the demand for tickets exceeds the number available for a match, a lottery system will determine the allocation, although there will be priority for Brazilian students, over-60s and Bolsa Família program participants, who will be able to purchase match tickets from as little as $15, with the cheapest category four tickets only going on sale to Brazilian citizens.
A total 400,000 of the 3.3 million tickets will be allocated to Brazilian citizens.
FIFA revealed last night that the highest levels of ticket requests have been from Brazil, Argentina, Chile, England and the United States.
Applications for this stage of the ticketing must be in before October 10, then the second phase of ticket sales will begin on December 8 following the group stage draw, with individuals able to request a maximum of four seats per match and a maximum of seven matches in total.
Inside the Games is a blog of the London Organizing Committee that helped put on the 2012 Summer Olympics. This article is reprinted here with permission of the authors of the blog.