Indian fans to make presence felt at FIFA World Cup

HIGHLIGHTS

• 17,962 tickets have been allocated to Indian fans for the FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia

• Most of the tickets for the World Cup have been picked up by the home fans with hosts Russia leading the way with 872,578

• FIFA allocates 250 tickets to each of its member associations who fail to qualify for the World Cup

PANAJI: On Thursday, when the 21st edition of the FIFA World Cup kicks off in Moscow, the Indian contingent of fans will make their presence felt at the world’s biggest sporting spectacle. The Indian team, ranked 97th in the world, has still not made an appearance at the World Cup, but that has not deterred football fans from cheering for the countries they support.

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“International fans have been allocated 54 percent of tickets. We can confirm that 17,962 tickets have been allocated to Indian fans. India is in the top-20 in terms of tickets sold. The sales are ongoing,” a FIFA spokesperson told TOI.

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Most of the tickets for the World Cup have been picked up by the home fans with hosts Russia leading the way with 872,578. Though they failed to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in more than three decades, the Americans have bought 86,710 tickets, next only to Russia.

The US (with 86,710 tickets) and China (39,884) are the only countries that can match India’s enthusiasm for the tournament from among those countries which failed to qualify for the World Cup.