Road to Brazil 2014 - Tickets Allocated; $8m Final Draw. Ronaldo in London

(WFI) FIFA revealed today that 889,305 tickets were allocated to people from 188 countries during the first phase of ticket sales for the Brazil 2014 World Cup.

Of those assigned in the random selection, 625,276 tickets (71.5%) were sold to Brazilian residents, while 28.5% went to fans from other countries.

Outside the host country, the highest number of tickets drawn was for residents of the USA States (66,646), followed by England (22,257), Germany (18,019), Australia (15,401), Canada (13,507), France (11,628), Colombia (11,326), Switzerland (8,082), Japan (5,021) and Argentina (4,493).

FIFA said the most popular venue-specific series ticket packages were for Rio de Janeiro (94,500), Brasilia (48,540) and São Paulo (46,916).

In compliance with Brazil’s World Cup Bill, FIFA offered a total of 342,740 tickets in category 4 to fans resident in Brazil, with priority given to students, individuals over the age of 60 and participants of the federal social welfare programme. As demand from these groups was less than the available inventory, 216,618 tickets went to those entitled for discounts in Brazil.

All applicants for the 6.2 million requested Brazil 2014 tickets will be informed by 10 November whether they have been successful or not, either by e-mail or SMS.

The figure of 889,305 tickets is the highest number of tickets to be allocated during a first sales window for a World Cup.

For the 2006 tournament, out of the 8 million requests received, 652,521 were successful in obtaining tickets, and in 2010, out of 1.8 million requests, 381,559 tickets were granted.

Thierry Weil, FIFA marketing director in charge of ticketing, said: "Of course, we would have liked to please even more football fans at this stage, but there will be other ticket sales windows, with the next one starting in less than a week.

"By using the electronic random selection draw, we were able to guarantee that the whole procedure remained fair and all applicants had an equal chance. This is very important to us."

The next sales window will start again exclusively via FIFA.com on 11 November at 12.00 CET/09.00 BRT (Brasilia time), and will remain open until 28 November at 12.00 CET/09.00 BRT. About 228,959 tickets will be available on a first-come first-served basis.

More World Cup tickets for all 64 matches will be made available two days after the final draw on Dec. 6 in Salvadorwhen the second sales phase kicks off.

Cost of Final Draw Revealed

FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke says the World Cup draw next month will cost around $8m.

"The final draw is much more than a FIFA event. It is a global showcasing opportunity for Brazil, Bahia, Salvador and Costa do Sauipe, the iconic venue for the upcoming show," Valcke said in his latest column on FIFA.com.

He revealed: "To organise the final draw, we are investing more than 20 million reais (approximately $8m) - in the production of the globally televised show, performing artists, technological infrastructure so that some thousand media representatives can beam Brazil's story to the world, private security and the event setting."

Cape Town, which hosted the South Africa World Cup final draw, "received media-coverage expenses of no less than $6.1m during the seven days around the final draw in 2009", he added.

He confirmed that France legend Zinedine Zidane is completing the line-up of champions representing the eight nations to have won the World Cup at the final draw.

Ronaldo Briefs Media in London

FIFA, Brazil 2014 and the Brazilian government will brief media in London today about the progress of preparations for next summer’s competition.

Brazil legend Ronaldo, now a 2014 World Cup ambassador and LOC board member, is due to appear. FIFA’s Thierry Weil and Ricardo Trade, CEO of the 2014 LOC, are also speaking to media.

World Cup Hospitality Update

MATCH Hospitality, FIFA’s hospitality rights holder for the World Cup, has appointed Venture Sports & Events as exclusive sales agent in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. The company will also act as an authorised sales agent in Thailand.

Jaime Byrom, Executive Chairman of MATCH Hospitality, commented: "Venture Sports provides MATCH Hospitality with further far-reaching sales platforms in these countries and helps us to tap into exciting markets with strong interest in the FIFA World Cup."

Written byMark Bisson

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