275,000 ticket applications made for Ireland’s Euro 2016 games
By Stephen Barry
In excess of a quarter of a million tickets have been applied for across Ireland’s three Euro 2016 group stage games.
Following the closure of the UEFA ticketing portal on Monday, it has been announced that over 275,000 tickets have been demanded by fans.
The figure of indicative of how over-subscribed each fixture is, with Irish supporters allocated 26,000 tickets for the games.
Half of that ticket allocation is for Ireland’s tournament-opening clash with Sweden in the Stade de France on June 13.
6,000 tickets will by distributed by the FAI for the following game against Belgium at the Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux, with 7,000 available to Irish fans for the meeting with Italy at Lille’s Stade Pierre-Mauroy.
In a statement, the FAI said: “While it is impossible to meet the demand of each ticket request, the FAI will endeavour to reward the most loyal supporters.
“UEFA will contact each applicant to inform them of the timeline expected for payments to be taken, while all applicants will be informed of their final status by February 29 at the latest.”
An extra 2,000 tickets have been awarded by UEFA to the FAI, who intend to distribute these tickets, once the ticketing process is complete, to unsuccessful applicants with “a proven match attendance track record, and to the ‘Football Family’.”
