World Cup 2027 Ticket Demand Tops 1.1 Million in Opening Weekend

The 2027 Cricket World Cup is shaping up to be the biggest the sport has ever seen — before a single ball has been bowled. The International Cricket Council confirmed on Monday that more than 1.1 million ticket applications were submitted in the opening weekend of the public ballot, which opened last Friday for the tournament to be staged in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.

More than 320,000 fans have already registered for the ballot, with demand expected to climb further before it closes on November 21. The marquee fixture — the India-Pakistan clash — has drawn over 110,000 applications on its own, underlining the pull of cricket's greatest rivalry.

ICC chief executive Sanjog Gupta described the response as a sign of the sport's surging global momentum, saying the numbers show cricket fans everywhere want to be part of the biggest World Cup yet.

The tournament will be the first Cricket World Cup staged on the African continent since 2003, and the early demand suggests stadiums will be packed from the opening match. With the ballot still open for another six weeks, the ICC is on course to smash ticketing records — a reminder that, in cricket's heartlands, the World Cup remains the sport's ultimate spectacle.