Tokyo (AFP)

Japan has managed to fill its 12 stadiums for its World Cup, which will be against all odds more profitable than the previous edition in England, welcomed the organizers on Tuesday three days before the opening of the tournament.

. Almost all tickets sold

It's not 100%, but almost. "Over the next six weeks, we will enjoy the best of rugby and the best of Japan - already 96% of the tickets have been sold, the rugby fever is about to take over this country," he said. Congratulated Bill Beaumont, President of World Rugby, sitting behind the Webb-Ellis Trophy in the press room in Tokyo.

Of the 48 games to play until the final on November 2, there remains less than 100,000 seats available. "We have 5.5 million applications for 1.8 million seats, so we know it's going to be a sold out + (sold out) We have not announced yet but it will come", launched the World Rugby CEO Brett Gosper.

. Stronger than England-2015

The archipelago is expected to attract between 400,000 and 500,000 foreign visitors - tourists and entrepreneurs - and do better than England (350,000) in 2015. But Japan will do even harder for economic benefits, according to the organizers: well that with smaller stadiums (1.8 million against 2.47 seats sold in England), it will do better than the previous edition, so far the most profitable of all.

"We had forecasts of about 25% less in commercial income and in fact, we will exceed the commercial income of England," confirmed Gosper, who hopes 260 million pounds (293 million EUR) against 245 for 2015.

. Green lights

Apart from the threat of a typhoon coming from the Pacific, which weakened on Tuesday, all fires are green for Japan, which hopes for an overall economic impact of more than a billion pounds. And, incidentally, a new audience record for a rugby match (28 million direct viewers in Japan for a population of 126 million) Friday during the opening match against Russia.

Visible with ticketing, the craze is also notable around the teams: 15,000 people attended the first public training of the Welsh Monday. "It's going to be a very different World Cup, this tournament is going to be full of surprises on and off the field," predicts Gosper.

Another satisfaction of the supreme organ of rugby world: rugby has 1.8 million new practitioners in Asia, including more than a million in Japan. The result, announced Tuesday, its campaign "Impact Beyond" conducted since 2016 to conquer new territories.

. More balanced?

In another program aimed at achieving a globally competitive plateau, world rugby leaders have also spent £ 60m (EUR 67m) for the so-called emerging nations (Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Georgia) so that they can compete. with the best.

Will this be the case in Japan? "We would like the gap between big and small nations to be further reduced, this has always been the case at previous World Cups," Gosper hopes. A journalist noted that some players from the Pacific Islands (Fiji, Samoa, Tonga) may have announced their international retirement under pressure from their club in Europe. "Every player who wants to be released for international matches must be released by his club - it's a sacrosanct rule," said Beaumont. "We want the best players at the World Cup." Most are ready.

© 2019 AFP