DOHA, Feb 8 ― Fifa said today that requests for 17 million tickets for this year’s World Cup finals in Qatar were received in the first phase of sales.

The global body, which hopes to make more than US$500 million (RM2.1 billion) from the finals to be held in November and December, said it had been "inundated” with requests from Argentina, Brazil, England, France, India, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and the United States.

Just over two million tickets will be available for the first tournament in an Arab country. ― AFP