FIFA confirms record number of World Cup ticket requests

Moscow Jan 31 (IANS) World football s governing body FIFA on Wednesday closed its initial phase of ticket requests for the upcoming World Cup in Russia with a record 4.9 million applications recorded since early December

Leading the charts for the highest number of requests was Russia with some 2.5 million followed by Germany (338 000) and Argentina (186 000) according to FIFA data which showed that 49 per cent of tickets were being asked for outside the host country reports Efe.

Around mid-March a lottery is to be held to see which of the millions of potential ticket buyers will be able to see their favourite international teams battle it out in stadiums across western Russia from June 14 to July 15.

A second round of ticket-buying is to open on March 13.

--IANS
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