FIFA pushes back second round sale of World Cup tickets

Rio de Janeiro: The Federation International de Football Association (FIFA) has announced it was pushing back the date of the second round of ticket sales for the 2014 Brazil World Cup games to Nov 11, because it had yet to notify all the winners of the first-round lottery.

The world football governing body said in a statement Tuesday the date had to be pushed back six days to give the initial lottery participants a chance to find out their status, in case they needed to re-apply. FIFA Marketing Director Thierry Weil, who announced the new date, said it was important for those who participated in the first round to know whether they had obtained their tickets or not, before the second round begins, to ensure "equal opportunity" among the participants. "Since the applications for the next round will be processed in the order they were received, it is absolutely necessary for all of the applicants in the first round to find out if their request was accepted when we resume the sales," he said. In addition, the FIFA said it needed the supervision of the Brazilian government, as host of the sporting event, in organizing a special lottery for fans with limited resources. The government of Brazil`s President Dilma Rousseff designated officials from a state bank and the sports ministry to oversee the lottery, which is to take place in the city of Manchester, England. According to the FIFA, the first phase of the lottery will decide who gets one of more than 300,000 low-priced entrances to be distributed among the elderly, students and recipients of a scholarship program. The FIFA said all of the first-round applicants will be notified by Nov 10.