Fans Crave World Cup Tickets for Ride to Germany
March 8, 2006
The German organizers of the upcoming soccer World Cup made 3.07 million tickets available to the general public, but demand has far outstripped supply with tickets oversubscribed by a ratio of 20 to one.
The first 12 hours of sales alone saw one million tickets ordered with 90 percent of the orders coming from Europe.
The Organizing Committee confirmed that 2.7 million tickets had already been snapped up 100 days before the finals, running from June 9 until July 9, ensuring a frantic scramble for the remaining 370,000 tickets.
Fans urged to go through proper channels
Germany's central European location and its numerous borders make it easily accessible and thousands of fans will travel to Germany in the hope of securing a late ticket through a friend, contact or via 'improper' channels.
Black market tickets have surfaced on online auction site eBay and ticket touts are sure to be hovering around the 12 World Cup stadiums come June.
Organizers have urged fans to go through the proper channels with Organizing Committee deputy head Horst R. Schmidt saying fans risk being left out of pocket if they gamble on the black market.
"They should realize that they could not only lose a great deal of money, but also might find themselves unable to enter the ground on match day due to the personalized nature of the tickets," Schmidt warned.
The official World Cup Web site, www.FIFAworldcup.com, and the 2006 FIFA World Cup Ticketing Center in Frankfurt are the two proper channels.
But deep pockets are required, with group matches ranging from 35 to 100 euros ($42-120), while a ticket for the Berlin final costs between 120 and 600 euros.
"Tickets cannot be forged"
The prices of tickets on the black market are sure to be hiked up significantly and aside from the agony of parting with hundreds of euros a high-tech system could see black-market buyers turned away at the turnstiles.
FIFA have confirmed that no one is permitted to re-sell or hand over a match ticket without the approval of organizers. All tickets for the 64 World Cup matches have an embedded electronic chip to identify the ticket holder and counter illegal trading.
"The tickets cannot be forged," promised Wolfgang Niersbach of the World Cup Organizing Committee.
The tickets are printed in English with only the public transportation details in German. The name of the football fan who purchased the ticket is also displayed.
Allegations of foul play
Three of the five ticket sales periods have already been completed and the ongoing penultimate sales stage ends on April 15. The final sales period runs from May 1 to July 9.
Providing the fans have applied in time, they enter an electronic lottery that determines the lucky recipients.
However, three of the five sales periods, including the final two, are being done on a 'first come, first served' basis and the confusing system has come under fire from fans.
Only being able to pay with a card issued by World Cup sponsors MasterCard -- unless you have a German bank account -- and curt e-mails informing the customer of failed attempts are just some of the grievances.
There have also been complaints about the number of VIP tickets being allocated.
A government report leaked in Bild newspaper on Monday confirmed that 79 German politicians and high-ranking civil servants would be provided with tickets for all 64 matches at the finals.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter has also criticized the complex lottery-style system and promised a change for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Soaking up the frenzy in a pub
A ticket for this summer's World Cup is almost like a winning lottery ticket. The tickets are supposed to be delivered to recipients six to eight weeks before the World Cup.
For those who fail to get their hands on the coveted stubs, soaking up the atmosphere in a German pub fitted out with a widescreen television is the logical alternative.