Applicants for the first batch of tickets for next year's football World Cup in Germany learned whether or not they were successful on Friday. A total of 812,000 tickets were available in the first sales phase: 665,000 individual tickets (including tickets for wheelchair users) and 147,000 team-specific tickets. Demand was high and the majority of people (including yours truly) emerged from a draw held on 15 April empty handed.

A lucky 208,455 of around 900,000 applicants were allocated tickets, equivalent to a one in 4.3 chance of success in the first sales phase. These 900,000 applicants, from a total of 191 countries across the world, requested 8.7m tickets. The internet accounted for 95 per cent of the applications received. Net applicants learned whether they were successful or not via an email from the World Cup organising committee on Friday morning.

All the tickets made available in the first sales phase for all 64 matches have been allocated. Highlighted matches such as fixtures involving Germany, the semi-finals and the final were as much as 39 times overbooked, FIFA said in a statement.

Fans who missed out of this time around can try again when the second phase opens on 2 May, offering exclusively team specific tickets through the official FIFA website. In a departure from the first phase, available tickets will be sold on a 'first come, first served' basis. In the first phase every application received by 31 March went into a draw for tickets. ®

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