"Just 24 hours after resuming ticket sales for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™, a total of 159,402 tickets (98 per cent of the currently available inventory) have been allocated to fans from around the world through FIFA.com/tickets, with only a few products still available in this sales period," FIFA said in a press release.
The second period of the first stage of sales started on Thursday and will last till November 28. During this time, tickets are sold on a first-come first-serve basis.
As a result of such high demand, virtually the full inventory of tickets was allocated to fans, the organization said.
"Only special-access tickets (SATs) left a few hours after the current ticket sales period opened."
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The first period of the first stage of ticket sales took place from September 14 to October 12. Within its framework, fans from around the world could apply for tickets on the FIFA website but only the ones winning in a random draw could buy tickets. As result, 622,117 tickets were sold: 57 percent to Russian fans, 43 percent to foreigners.
Russia will host its first FIFA World Cup on June 14 — July 15, 2018. The games will take place in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Saransk, Rostov-on-Don, Yekaterinburg and Sochi.
