As India is all set to host the FIFA Under-17 World Cup tournament for the first time at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi, not many people have shown interest in buying the tickets even at the discounted rates.
According to a report in The Times of India, to compensate the lack of fans at the Delhi’s JNU stadium, the Government of India and FIFA Local Organising Committee (LoC) has already given 27,000 tickets to around 500 schools in the Delhi-NCR region to ensure the stadium is filled.
"Initially, the plan was to bring around 15000-16000 kids. But when we realized that tickets sales were slow, we had to increase the number. The only tickets which are completely sold out are the online ones. However, that is a very nominal percentage of around 10000," an LOC member told TOI.
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Reports also say that a majority of the tickets have still remained unsold. Although FIFA has not made any comments officially on the number of tickets sold, the football fans are yet to queue up to buy tickets even at discounted rates at as minimum as Rs 100 and Rs 60.
Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium has a capacity of around 56,000, but if most of those seats remain unoccupied during the game, then it will reflect poorly on the organising committee.
