Over a million World Cup ticket requests on opening day: most from Brazil and Argentina

Over one million World Cup finals ticket requests were made within the first seven hours of public sale, soccer’s world governing body FIFA said on Tuesday. Most demand for tickets came from Brazil, Argentina, United States, Chile and England.

The first phase of sales for next year’s tournament runs until October 10 and FIFA said more than 163,000 people had made requests on Tuesday for various games.

The opening match on June 12 at the Arena de Sao Paulo (over 168,000 requests) and the final at the iconic Maracana in Rio de Janeiro (more than 165,000) were the two most popular games.

A lottery will be held to decide the distribution for games which are over-subscribed.

Ticket prices for international fans for the final range from 440 to 990 dollars while prices for group stage matches run from 90 to 175 dollars. There are various discounted prices for local fans.

These include in order of priority pensioners, students and beneficiaries of the Family Scholarship program and cost the equivalent of 25 dollars.