HAMBURG, Germany, 11 Dec (Reuters) - The last major sales window for World Cup tickets opens on Monday, with 250,000 seats on offer and competition sure to be fierce now the draw has settled where teams are playing in the first phase.

The sales period begins on December 12 and will run until January 15. A ballot will be held on January 31 to decide which people actually get tickets, with the order in which applications are made making no difference.

Those fans bidding for tickets will need to be lucky if they are to see games in Germany next year.

The 812,000 tickets on offer in the first sales window were over-subscribed by more than 10 to one and demand is expected to be even higher this time, particularly from abroad.

Germany were the only country certain of qualifying when the first big ticket offer was made earlier this year and the vast majority of orders came from the host nation.

"We can feel the interest from participating teams and from neighbouring countries increasing enormously," organising committee vice-president Horst R. Schmidt said in a statement.

INTERNATIONAL INTERESTS

"We will thus be catering more to these international wishes and interests."

Tickets for all games are on offer, with the exception of the opening match between Germany and Costa Rica on June 9 in Munich.

Prices start at 35 euros ($41.21) for the cheapest seats at the other group games and go up to 600 euros ($706.5) for the most expensive seats at the final in Berlin on July 9.

If any tickets are unsold in the forthcoming phase, they will be offered on a first come, first served basis between February 15 and April 15.

The only other potential opportunity to get unsold tickets from the organisers will be in a last minute phase starting on May 1 and running to the end of the tournament on July 9 More>>>

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posted by ADMIN @ Sunday, December 11, 2005