Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will buy the first World Cup ticket on December 31, a day before the tickets are made available for the public on the New Year’s Day.
Each person will be eligible to buy two tickets from different City Bank booths across the country, although the purchaser will not receive the original ticket at first. He will be given a receipt instead.
Seven days before the 2011 World Cup begins, the ticket will be issued against the receipt from the stadium or it will be sent through the postal service. GS Hasan Tamim, chairman of Ticket and Seating Committee of the Bangladesh Cricket Board, said that these measures would be employed to avoid counterfeits.
“We are taking these steps to avoid forgery,” he said.
Tickets will be sold through eight City Bank booths in Dhaka and five in Chittagong. In addition, tickets will be sold from one booth each in the 64 district towns.
15,000 tickets will be offered for matches to be held at the 25,500-seater Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur while 11,000 tickets will be up for grabs for the 18,000-seater Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chittagong.
Up to 12,000 tickets will go on sale for the February 17 opening ceremony at the Bangabandhu National Stadium. The rest will be for invited guests, including the ICC, local and foreign dignitaries and present and former cricketers.
Meanwhile, tickets for the six practice matches (in Dhaka and Chittagong) will also go on sale on January 1.
