2m clamour for tickets
With applications set to close at midnight on Tuesday, a staggering two million tickets have been requested by Germany fans for the 14,400 available for their country's three Euro 2008 pool games in Austria.
After the success of the 2006 World Cup, the demand for Germany's three games against Poland (June 8) and Croatia (June 12) in the southern Austrian city of Klagenfurt, plus the clash with hosts Austria in Vienna (June 16), has gone through the roof.
After the euphoria of hosting the World Cup, where Germany finished third, their fans are clamouring to get tickets to see their heroes in action for the June 7 to 29 tournament with the final to be held in Vienna.
"It seems to be German fans' mission impossible to get tickets for Euro 2008," said German Football Federation (DFB) secretary-general Wolfgang Niersbuch.
"Unfortunately there will be only a few joyful winners and it is a pity we have so few tickets to give away in a ballot which will take place at the end of the month."
The main problem is that Klagenfurt's Hypo Group Arena only holds 32,000 spectators and the DFB can only hand over 14,400 of the 21,765 tickets it has to fans.
"We also have to give tickets to our committees, the Bundesliga clubs, the regional organisations, our sponsors and the players' families get an allocation too."
For the two games in Klagenfurt, the DFB gets 5,722 tickets per game with 10,321 available for the game against Austria at the Ernst Happel Stadium, which has a capacity of 50,000.
Each prospective customer could order up to four tickets on-line until midnight on Tuesday, with tickets coasting between 45 to 550 euros (65 to 799 dollars).
For each ticket, there is a five per cent handling charge with an extra 20 euros (30 dollars) charge for the posting of each order.
The total price is charged to a credit card as soon as it is dispatched.
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