FIFA to hold random draw to allocate 2014 World Cup tickets following six mln requests

Six million requests of tickets for the FIFA 2014 World Cup have reportedly come from 203 countries, prompting the world football governing body to hold a random draw to allocate the tickets.

FIFA confirmed that a total of 6,164,682 requests came in from 203 countries, with more than 70 percent from the host nation Brazil.

According to the BBC, the first fixture of the tournament had 726,067 requests and the final 751,165, with 80,000 seats free for each match, adding that unallocated tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis from November 5.

The report mentioned that fans would be allowed to buy tickets again on December 8 following the World Cup draw, adding that the opening game will be held in Sao Paolo on June 12, 2014 and the final at the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro on July 13 the same year.

The report further said that 374,065 ticket applications came from the United States and 96,780 from England, with the organisers expecting a total of nearly 3.3 million tickets to be available for the first World Cup in Brazil since 1950.

Nearly 800,000 fans attended the Confederations Cup in Brazil this year, with ticket sales easily surpassing those for the tournaments in South Africa in 2009 and in Germany in 2005, the report added.