FA to improve system after crash

The Football Association will make improvements to its computer system after unprecedented numbers of people logged on to buy tickets for the first game at the new Wembley stadium.

The demand caused the queueing system on the FA’s website to fail and a new system will be put in place ahead of ticket sales for future games at Wembley.

The first game at the new Wembley, England’s U21 clash with Italy on March 24, will be played in front of a maximum crowd of 60,000 after the tickets sold out in less than six hours.

A total of 154,102 visitors logged onto www.thefa.com yesterday, more than twice the average of 73,900 who accessed the site on the days of England’s World Cup games last year, to snap up tickets.

The crowd will be a record for an England U21 game, easily beating the 34,000 who turned up at White Hart Lane for the France game in November 2005.

The crowd has been restricted from the full capacity of 90,000 to 60,000 as the game will be a second ’ramp-up’ event at the new stadium in order to test facilities and obtain a general safety certificate from Brent council.