Organisers of next year’s soccer extravaganza UEFA Euro 2008 say demand for tickets has been massive since the first batch when on public sale at the beginning of March.

More than 2.5m ticket requests have been received from 128 countries at the halfway stage of the month-long application phase.

Applications for tickets will be accepted until midnight on March 31.

The 2008 UEFA European Championships will take place in Austria and Switzerland between June 7-29.

Christian Mutschler, Euro 2008 tournament director, Switzerland, said: “In the league table of applications from fans, Switzerland has opened up a clear lead, followed by Austria and Germany.”