© EuroFootball.com
The organizing committee of the 2006 World Championship in Germany announced today that ticket demand exceeds supply by five times.
The number of ticket orders by the end of March 31, before the ticket sales began on February 1, will reach four million, although only 812 thousand tickets are currently available.
The vice chairman of the organizing committee also reassured those who claim that many foreigners will want to watch the World Championship, stating that 85% of the orders are from Germany.
The ticket ordering procedure is subject to various restrictions, with a maximum of 28 tickets allowed per person. On April 15, all orders will participate in a kind of "lottery", where only every fifth order will be satisfied. However, the organizers assure that up to 300 thousand tickets will be sold in stages before January 2006.
The organizers of the championship, scheduled for June 9 - July 9, 2006, already announced that only a third of the nearly three million tickets will be sold. The remaining two million tickets will be divided among tournament sponsors, German football clubs, and football federations.
The organizing committee says that empty seats may be unavoidable in some matches, as some clubs may have more tickets than they need, so they say that "reserve" spectators may enter the stadium just before the game.
