FIFA: Almost 1.7m World Cup tickets sold

FIFA says almost 1.7 million tickets have been sold for the World Cup in Russia after some 400,000 were snapped up in the latest sales stage which ended on Tuesday.
The ruling body FIFA said that 394,433 tickets were sold during a first-come, first-served window since March 13.
Russians dominated by buying 216,134 of them, followed by fans from the not qualified U.S. (16,462),
Argentina (15,006), Colombia (14,755) and Mexico (14,372).
In all, 1,698,049 tickets have now been sold for the June 14 to July 15 tournament in 11 Russian cities, FIFA said,
naming overall international demand at 53 per cent.
A final sales phase starts April 18, also first come, first-served.
Meanwhile, Latin American fans are buying tickets for the World Cup faster than Europeans, according to figures published by FIFA on Tuesday.
FIFA said that 394,433 tickets were sold in the most recent sales period and 216,134 of those were allocated to fans from the host nation.
Fans from the U.S. were the biggest buyers among foreign supporters with 16,642 tickets, even though their team has not qualified.
However, as the numbers are based on country of residence, a proportion of the U.S sales could come from the nation’s large Hispanic community.
The next five biggest purchasers were Argentina (15,006), Colombia (14,755), Mexico (14,372), Brazil (9,962) and Peru (9,766).
Germany, whose team are the defending champions, was the top European nation with 5,974 tickets allocated while China (6,598), Australia (5,905) and India (4,509) completed the top 10.
China and India have also failed to qualify for the World Cup.
FIFA did not give a breakdown for the overall total of 1,698,049 tickets which have been sold so far. The final batch of tickets will go on sale from April 18, the organisation said.
A number of European countries and the U.S are in a major standoff with Russia, with expulsions of diplomats on both sides, over the poisoning of a former Russian spy in England last month.
Britain has blamed the attack on Russia which has denied responsibility.