It's 80:1 for World Cup final ticket

Nearly 80 fans are vying for every seat available online for the April 2 final of the World Cup in Mumbai, head of the official ticket agency said on Friday. There is a similar demand for semi-final matches and it would only grow further in the next couple of days before the ballot window is closed
, KyaZoonga chief executive Neetu Bhatia said.

"In terms of demand for tickets for semi-final and final, it's almost at 80:1 ratio and we are still counting," Bhatia told Reuters by telephone.

"The demand stands nearly 80 times of the tickets available. We are very excited about this. Sunday is the cut-off day and people are still going to apply for those tickets."

The organisers have already confirmed that of the 33,000 seats in Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium, only 1000 would be available online.

In all, around 4000 tickets are available for the public, while the rest would be distributed among the International Cricket Council (ICC) and clubs affiliated to the Mumbai Cricket Association.

Last month, the ticket website crashed in 20 minutes when 10 million fans logged in seeking those 1000 tickets, prompting the organisers to organise a ballot system instead.

"It's actually the first ever such ticket ballot to be held in this part of the world. We put it together quickly and swiftly when it was decided, along with ICC and BCCI (Indian cricket board), that we would go the ballot way," Bhatia
said.

"It's the most equitable form of ticket distribution that's used for Wimbledon and Olympics. We are pretty proud of what we have accomplished by putting it together so quickly for an event like this."

After the ballot, successful applicants would have to make the payment and the tickets would start reaching them from the third week of this month, she added.