FIFA announced on Wednesday it had received more than 1.6 million ticket requests from over 200 countries for the 2010 World Cup as part of the first phase of online sales, which closed Tuesday night. This first group of tickets will be allocated in a lottery to take place on April 15, which I'm sure many Americans will be giving more importance than filing their tax returns that day.
It was in fact the United States that accounted for the most ticket requests from abroad, followed by the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Australia. The price for these international tickets will start at $80 for group stage matches, while South Africans, who totaled more than 30 percent of the total requests, will pay just $15 for the same opening round games.
For those who don't get an all-important email or text from FIFA Ticketing on April 15, don't fret: the second round of sales at FIFA.com runs from May 4 through November, while still a third phase remains after the 32 finalists are confirmed and the draw for group stage matches is complete in December.