The 1998 World Cup mascot, a blue cockerel, was baptised "Footix" yesterday - the day tickets for the tournament in France became available to the public.

The name, an allusion to the popular cartoon - character Asterix, was chosen from five entries by French television viewers.

Block tickets went on sale to the public for first and second round matches at all the venues: Paris (Parc des Princes and the new national stadium at Saint Denis), Bordeaux, Lens, Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Nantes, Saint Etienne and Toulouse.

Tickets for the opening match, the quarter finals, semi finals, third place play off and final will not go on sale until late next year.