Media: Ukrainians bought thousands of FIFA World Cup 2018 tickets
Football 24 news outlet reports that Ukrainian citizens purchased more than four thousand tickets for 2018 World Cup matches in Russia.
According to the publication’s source, FIFA sold 2,053 tickets for tournament matches to Ukrainian fans during the second phase, which lasted from December 5, 2017 to April 3, 2018.
The first phase lasted from September 14 to November 28, 2017. During this time, Ukrainian fans purchased 2,087 tickets. Thus, the total number of tickets at the moment is 4,140.
On April 18, the third and last phase of ticket sales of for the World Cup 2018 will begin. The tournament itself will be held from June 14 to July 15, 2018.
At the same time, FIFA does not specify from which regions of Ukraine applications have been received. As such, it is not known whether the tally includes applications by residents of the Russian-annexed Crimea or the uncontrolled Donetsk and Luhansk territory.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko gave fans the right to independently decide whether or not to go to the World Cup in Russia. However, he noted that he would prefer if the fans refused the trip.
Ukraine earlier abandoned its ticket quota to the soccer world championship in Russia. Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said that Ukraine decided to boycott the 2018 World Cup.