With the FIFA World Cup 2018 around the corner, Indians have already booked their tickets to witness the world's biggest sporting event live in Russia.

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Among the countries not qualified for FIFA World Cup 2018, Indian football fans have purchased the third highest number of tickets for the World Cup that kicks off from June 14 in Russia.

International fans have been allocated 54 percent of the ticket while Indian fans purchased a total of 17,895 tickets, a FIFA spokesman told CNBC-TV18.India is in the top-20 in terms of tickets sold, the spokesman of the international governing body of football said.

Most of the tickets for the World Cup have been picked up by the home fans with hosts Russia leading the way with 872,578, followed by Americans at 86,710 tickets and then China with 39,884 tickets.

The US and China are the only countries that can match India’s enthusiasm for the tournament from among those countries which failed to qualify for the World Cup.

Cricket-mad India may be home to 1.3 billion people but the country is a massive under-achiever as far as soccer is concerned, yet to make a single appearance at the World Cup finals and languishing at a lowly 97th in the FIFA rankings.

While the team may not be present at this year’s tournament, a large number of fans are flying off to the venue to witness the football excitement and plenty are tuning in to watch the live telecast on their television sets.

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First Published:Jun 13, 2018 11:08 AM IST