2014 FIFA World Cup tickets sold out in seven hours as second phase opens

Johannesburg: Nearly 230,000 tickets in the second phase of sales for the 2014 Football World Cup were sold out within seven hours after FIFA`s website made them available.

According to Sport24, FIFA said that the level of interest was impressive and was greater than in the first sales window, when almost 890, 000 tickets were allocated through a random selection draw. More than 6.2 million tickets have been requested for the first World Cup in Brazil since 1950, nearly double the amount of total tickets available. Only 1.1 million were put on sale in the initial sales phases, the report said. Tickets for the most popular games were not on sale in the second phase, including the June 12 opener in Sao Paulo, the July 13 final at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, the two semifinals and all of Brazil`s group-stage matches, the report added. More tickets will be on sale December 8, after the World Cup draw determines where and when the 32 teams will play, the report further said. Football`s governing body said there were 3.6 million page views on the website on Monday, leading to an average waiting time of 45 minutes before people could access the page selling the tickets, according to the report. Each applicant could request for up to four tickets for a maximum of seven of the 64 matches, the report mentioned.