EURO 2008 INFO

The Austrian Football Association (ÖFB) announced Saturday having registered 645,719 orders for tickets for matches of the national team at Euro-2008 that the co Austria with Switzerland from 7 to June 29.

The reservation process, which opened on February 16, ended in the night of Friday to Saturday at midnight.

The importance of the application, relative to a country of just over 8 million people, "shows how the Austrians look forward to the prospect of European Championship," said the president of the ÖFB , Friedrich Stickler, in a statement.

The volume of orders is enough to fill "13 times" the Ernst-Happel Stadium in Vienna, where the final will be played on June 29, is the ÖFB.

Orders focus on the three matches of Austria in the first round (Group B) against Croatia (June 8), Poland (June 12) and Germany (June 16), all three competing at Ernst-Happel .

The quota of tickets, restricted to supporters of Austrian nationality, is limited to 7,000 places for each of these events.

The supporters could also make bookings for the direct elimination matches in the event that the disputerait Austria. The quota stood at 6,000 for the quarter-final and semi-final, and 10,000 for the final.

Tickets will be allocated by lottery on March 15, said the ÖFB.

By way of comparison, some 765,000 tickets have been ordered in Switzerland, the other host country of the Euro-2008, and 2.6 million in Germany at the end of the booking process.

The sale of tickets by the national federations representing supporters for the last chance to secure a place for the Euro-2008, which will be contested in eight cities in Switzerland and Austria.