MOSCOW, April 3. /TASS/.  Up to 1.7 million tickets have been allocated both to domestic and international football fans after the closure of the second period of Phase 2 of ticket sales for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, which kicks off in 72 days in Russia, the FIFA said in its statement on Monday.

"With just 72 days left until the start of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, another ticket sales period drew to a close today," the world’s governing football body said in its statement.

"During the first-come, first-served sales window, which opened on 13 March, a total of 394,433 tickets were allocated to fans across the world," according to the FIFA.

"Most of the tickets during this sales period were allocated to Russian fans (216,134), followed by fans from USA (16,462), Argentina (15,006), Colombia (14,755), Mexico (14,372), Brazil (9,962), Peru (9,766), China (6,598), Germany (5,974), Australia (5,905) and India (4,509) - the top ten countries from abroad," the statement said.

The FIFA also stated that "1,698,049 tickets have been allocated to fans worldwide since sales started in September 2017, with the overall international demand accounting for 53%"

The Phase 2 of ticket sales for the quadrennial world football championship was divided into two periods, just like during the preceding Phase 1.

The first period of the Phase 2 of ticket sales was launched on December 5, 2017 and closed on January 31, 2018. The second period of Phase 2 dubbed as the "First-come, first served" will open on March 13 and provide sales services until its closure on April 3.

Phase 3, dubbed as the "Last Minute Sales," will run from April 18 up until the final match day of the competition and the remaining tickets will be available for purchase on a first-come first-serve basis.

The 2018 FIFA World Cup kicks off in 72 days with the opening match in the Russian capital of Moscow.

Russia selected 11 host cities to be the venues for the matches of the 2018 World Cup and they are Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Samara.

The matches of the 2018 World Cup will be held between June 14 and July 15 at 12 stadiums located in the 11 mentioned above cities across Russia. Two of the stadiums are located in the Russian capital.

Fan-IDs for ticket holders

Russia came up for this FIFA World Cup with an innovation, which is the so-called Fan-ID and it is required for all ticketholders. This innovation was successfully tested during the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia and earned high marks from the world’s governing football body.

The Fan-ID plays an important security role during the major football tournament in Russia as it grants admittance to the stadiums and also serves as visa for foreign visitors to enter the country.

A Fan-ID holder is allowed to enter the country without having a Russian visa and stay for the duration of the global football tournament. Fan-IDs are obligatory, in addition to purchased tickets, in order to attend matches of the 2018 World Cup tournament in Russia. They were available free of charge at designated areas located in all hosting cities across Russia as well as via e-mails and postal services during the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup.

Last October, the Russian Ministry of Communications and Mass Media announced the launch of a registration process for obtaining new Fan-IDs required for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.