Brazil 2014: over 3.5 million tickets requested during second sales phase

FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) recorded 3,505,656 ticket requests for 62 of the 64 matches of the 2014 World Cup (tickets for the opening and final match were not available), during the second sales phase which ended on the 30/01/2014.

"This level of demand can cause some disappointment, dissatisfaction and incomprehension among football supporters. This is the biggest problem with ticketing for the FIFA World Cup - one we cannot unfortunately solve to everybody’s satisfaction, but it is a great sign of the huge anticipation for the event," said Thierry Weil, FIFA Marketing Director.

Nearly 500,000 people from 199 different countries participated in the sales phase, which began on the 08/12/2013. 80% are Brazilian and requested more than 2.6 million tickets. A draw will be held to distribute the tickets before the 11/03/2014.

The next period of the second sales phase, originally scheduled on 26/02/2014 has been delayed two weeks and will begin on the 12/03/2014 at 12:00 CET (8:00 Brasilia time), on the basis of "first come first served."

• Fans of national…