Tickets for the Slovak football team's upcoming 2010 World Cup qualifier against Slovenia were sold out just four minutes after the online sale system was launched on the www.marstravel.sk website at 17:00 on September 24, the TASR newswire learned.
There was a good reason for the sales stampede. Slovakia only needs a draw in the match, which is due to take place in Bratislava on October 10, to secure the country's first-ever place at a World Cup Finals - in this case in South Africa in 2010.
The sale was supposed to be launched on Wednesday, September 23, but the system collapsed and it was rescheduled for Thursday. Representatives of a company called Sport Progress, which is the marketing partner of the Slovak Football Association, announced earlier on Thursday that it didn't expect any more technological setbacks to hamper the sale.
A total of 11,000 tickets were available in the online sale, with people able to book a maximum of four tickets each. Bratislava's Tehelné Pole Stadium seats 23,000 spectators. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
