The world’s governing football body, Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), announced the opening of the 3rd and final stage of ticket sales for matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, which kicks off in Russia in less than two months.
The report said the ticket sales’ phase 3, dubbed as the "Last Minute Sales," runs starting April 18 up until the final match day of the competition in July and the remaining tickets are available for purchase on a first-come first-serve basis.
"With less than two months left until the start of the biggest single-sport event on the planet, fans across the globe will have another opportunity to apply for tickets for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia," FIFA said in a statement.
The last-minute sales phase was launched on Wednesday, April 18, at 12 noon Moscow (1.30pm Kabul time) time for fans to be able "to purchase tickets online, subject to availability, in real time and on a first-come, first-served basis," the statement said.
According to FIFA, "1,698,049 tickets have already been allocated to football supporters from all over the world," via the official FIFA website since the launch of Phase One of ticket sales in September 2017.
"Most of these tickets have been allocated to Russian fans (796,875), followed by fans from the USA (80,161), Brazil (65,863), Colombia (60,199), Germany (55,136), Mexico (51,736), Argentina (44,882), Peru (38,544), China (36,841), Australia (34,628) and England (30,711) - the top-ten countries from abroad," FIFA announced summing up the results after previous two phases of ticket sales.
The organization also said that it resumed sales of the fourth category tickets as well as the sale of special tickets for spectators with limited abilities.
The 2018 FIFA World Cup kicks off in 57 days with the opening match in the Russian capital of Moscow.
Russia selected 11 host cities to be the venues for the matches of the 2018 World Cup - they are Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Samara.
The tournament will run from June 14 to July 15 at 12 stadiums located in the 11 cities across Russia. Two of the stadiums are located in the Russian capital.