Over 1.3 million tickets have been allocated both to domestic and international football fans after the closure of the first period of Phase 2 of ticket sales for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, which kicks off less than 100 days in Russia, the FIFA said in its statement.
"A few days after celebrating 100 days to go until the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia, the outcome of the most recent tickets sales period has now been confirmed, with 568,448 tickets allocated following the second random selection draw sales window from 5 December to 31 January. This is on top of the 735,168 tickets allocated during the first sales phase, which makes a total of 1,303,616 tickets allocated since the start of ticket sales in September 2017," the statement reads.
"Most of them are going to Russian fans (197,832) followed by fans from Colombia (33,048), Brazil (24,656), Peru (21,946), Germany (21,639), USA (20,347), Mexico (18,155), Australia (15,906), Argentina (15.214), England (14,890) and Poland (13,686) - the top ten countries from abroad," the FIFA stated.
The Phase 2 of ticket sales for the quadrennial world football championship was divided into two periods. The first period of the Phase 2 of ticket sales was launched on December 5, 2017 and closed on January 31, 2018.
The second period of Phase 2 dubbed as the "First-come, first served" will open on March 13 and provide sales services until its closure on April 3.
"With only 94 days left until the FIFA World Cup opening match, we continue to be very happy with the outcome of ticket sales. The huge demand by both local and international fans highlights the great sense of anticipation and excitement that Russia 2018 is sparking around the world," FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura said.
Phase 3, dubbed as the "Last Minute Sales," will run from April 18 up until the final match day of the competition and the remaining tickets will be available for purchase on a first-come first-serve basis.
The matches of the 2018 World Cup will be held between June 14 and July 15 at 12 stadiums located in the 11 mentioned above cities across Russia.
