Overwhelming Demand Forces FIFA To Hold Lottery For Confederations Cup Tickets

FIFA revealed that it was "forced to hold a lottery" for the allocation of Confederations Cup tickets due to overwhelming demand, according to Michael Place of XINHUA. The first phase of ticket sales for the June 15-30 tournament in Brazil closed on Tuesday with 399,525 ticket requests from 78 different countries. The city with most tickets requested was Salvador with 93,567, followed by Rio de Janeiro (88,420), Brasilia (68,912), Fortaleza (68,352) Recife (51,518) and Belo Horizonte (28,756). The "most sought-after match" has been the Confederations Cup opener in Brasilia between Brazil and Japan with 68,912 ticket requests, followed by Italy vs. Brazil (68,114) in Salvador and the final at Rio's Maracanã Stadium (51,388) (XINHUA, 1/16).