KOLKATA: Demands for tickets for the shifted Brazil-England U-17 World Cup semifinal here skyrocketed with an online queue of more than a lakh registered within an hour after it was thrown open at the official FIFA site.
"You are in an online queue for the FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017 tickets. Once it is your turn, you will have 10 minutes to enter the website," the message on the website read quoting a serial number 121911 with 84735 users still ahead within an hour after it went live.
It was a win-win situation for football loving Kolkata fans as FIFA announced the shift in venue from Guwahati with less than 48 hours before the match in an unprecedented development.
A known Brazil bastion, Kolkata turned up in record numbers to swell the Saltlake Stadium to support the yellow brigade in their 2-1 quarterfinal win yesterday.
With Kolkata set to host the summit clash on October 28, the crowd now have a chance to witness the Samba magic gain as the response is evident from the huge ticket craze.
"The sort of craze we are seeing, it seems selling the tickets would not pose any problem. We are more concerned with giving a large number of options to the fans to redeem the tickets," FIFA Local Organising Committee project director Joy Bhattacharjya said.
The FIFA has put a flat rate of tickets at Rs 100 giving fans in Guwahati the priority as about 18,000 were sold there.
Nagpur-based ardent sports fan Om Mundhra, who was to reach Guwahati tomorrow, now has to cancel his flight tickets and alter his travel plans.
"Cancelling the flight tickets is not priority but I must get the Kolkata tickets now. I've booked the tickets months in advance. Till now I'm in queue. But I'm looking forward to watch both the semifinals and final in Kolkata now," he said.