Record visitor numbers to FIFA website for Brazil's first match

(AFP PHOTO/Munir uz ZAMAN)

The June 15 match between Brazil and Korea DPR drew a record number of visitors to FIFA's own website, says the sports organization, with the domain serving up 265 million pages to 10 million unique users throughout the day.

That was when the world's highest ranked team played this year's lowest ranked World Cup finalist, as Brazil beat Korea DPR by 2 goals to 1.

The day's other matches were draws: the Ivory Coast and Portugal both failed to score during their encounter, while New Zealand prevented Slovakia from winning with a last-minute goal.

The numbers beat the previous record, 250 million page hits, which was set on June 22, 2006.

On that occasion, Brazil were again featured, as the last day Group F matches saw them beat Japan 4-1 while Croatia and Australia drew 2-2.

At the same time, Group E's standings had gone down to the wire, with eventual winners Italy and Ghana scraping through after beating the Czech Republic and the USA respectively.

This year, visits to the website are expected to eclipse those previously experienced, as 53 million unique users checked in during the first two weeks of June, as compared with 48 million throughout 2006's four-week tournament.