MOSCOW (Sputnik) – More than 4.9 million tickets to 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia have been requested during the first period of the second sales phase, FIFA said in a press release on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, the ticket sales window of the first period of the second sales phase to the matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup except for the opening match and final ended.
“[A total of] 4,905,169 2018 FIFA World Cup tickets had been requested by fans from all over the world before the random selection draw sales period concluded at 12:00 Moscow time [09:00 GMT] today,” the press release read.
#ФИФА назвала специальные цены на билеты для #россия‘н на ЧМ-2018 https://t.co/7QK4UWhytk pic.twitter.com/g0aDzGk1ep
— Jenkers News (RUS) (@jenkers_ru) 5 июля 2016 г.
TWEET: FIFA Announces 2018 FIFA World Cup ticket prices for Russians
According to the press release, Russian fans have requested more than 2.5 million tickets (or 59 percent), while the international demand accounted for 41 percent. Germany, Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Poland, Spain, Peru, Colombia, the United States and the Netherlands are making up the top 10 countries outside the host nation in the number of purchased tickets.
“Due to the high demand, a random selection draw process will be carried out to determine which fans will be awarded tickets,” the press release added.
The second period of the second sales phase will kick off on March 13 and finish on April 3. During the phase, football fans will be able to purchase the rest of the tickets in a real-time mode.
During the first sales phase that lasted from September 14 to November 28, over 742,000 tickets were allocated, according to FIFA figures.
Russia will host the FIFA World Cup for the first time in its history from June 14 to July 15. Games of the tournament will be held in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don, Sochi, Yekaterinburg, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Volgograd, and Samara.
