FRANCE 98 – Communique Template

2,000 tickets were sold today, Tuesday 5 May 1998, bringing to 167,000 the total number sold by telephone to residents of the 18 countries in the European Economic Space since reservations opened on 22 April.

When the hot-lines closed today at 8 pm, 2 more matches among the 55 on offer were sold out:

• Paraguay/Bulgaria (n° 7), Friday 12 June at 2.30 pm, at the Stade de La Mosson in Montpellier.

• Spain/Paraguay (n° 24), Friday 19 June at 9 pm, at the Stade Geoffroy Guichard in Saint-Etienne.

The FRANCE 98 telephone hot-lines will open again tomorrow, Wednsday 6 May, from 9 am to 8 pm for sales of the last 3,000 tickets. These are for the following 6 matches (in the first round only) :

• Cameroon/Austria (n° 3), Thursday 11 June at 9 pm, at the Stadium Municipal in Toulouse

• Italy/Chile (n° 4), Thursday 11 June at 5.30 pm, at the Stade Lescure in Bordeaux

• Chile/Austria (n° 19), Wednesday 17 June at 5.30 pm, at the Stade Geoffroy Guichard in Saint-Etienne

• Spain/Bulgaria (n° 37), Wednesday 24 June at 9 pm, at the Stade Félix Bollaert in Lens

• Nigeria/Paraguay (n° 39), Wednesday 24 June at 9 pm, at the Stadium Municipal in Toulouse

• South Africa/Saudi Arabia (n° 40), Wednesday 24 June at 4 pm, at the Stade Lescure in Bordeaux

Worth noting: among the 18 countries of the European Economic Space, fans of the Austrian, Spanish and Italian sides still have a chance to come and support their national teams in some of the first round matches during the World Cup.

A reminder: reservations for these tickets may be made exclusively by telephone and only on the numbers indicated below on a “first come first served” basis, with a limit of 4 tickets per person per match, and an overall limit of 16 tickets per person:

Payment for tickets ordered may be made by international bank card or, failing this, by certified bank cheque (made out in French francs and which must be received by the French Organising Committee within 7 days of placing the order). The use of a card (card number) or bank account is limited to a single order.