The World Cup final draw in Cape Town has unleashed a stampede for tickets for the tournament, with Fifa receiving close to a quarter-of-a-million requests for tickets in the past two days, it was announced on Monday.
The third sale of tickets for the World Cup in South Africa began on Saturday, a day after fans in the 32 qualifying countries discovered which teams their team would be meeting in the first round of the June 11-July 11 tournament.
In the first 48 hours, 219 162 ticketing requests have been received on Fifa’s website, the football body said.
”We are pleased with the interest shown so far. It shows the impact the final draw has had on football fans and the Fifa World Cup next year,” Horst R. Schmidt, chairman of the Ticketing Sub-Committee, said in a statement.
The sale lasts until January 22.
Applications for over-subscribed games or categories of ticket will be entered in a draw.
Over 668 000 tickets for the World Cup have already been sold in two previous sales phases, of which South Africans have scooped up around half. — Sapa-dpa