NEU-ISENBURG, Germany, 25 January 2005 — Attending a game at the 2006 World Cup will be — quite literally — a lottery for most fans when the first tickets go on sale next week.
With demand expecting to far outstrip supply, the German organizers said Monday they would be putting ticket applications into an electronic draw.
Little more than a third of the 2.93 million tickets available for the 64 matches in 12 stadiums will actually be available to fans by public sale.
The German organizers, announcing ticketing details in Neu- Isenburg, said 812,000 tickets will go on sale from midnight on February 1 in a first phase.
At least another 300,000 will later become available on the free market until January 15, 2006.
All ticket applications in the first phase will be put into a draw on April 15 rather than be sold on a first come, first served basis. Tickets will be available to order via the internet (www.fifaworldcup.com) from midnight February 1 until March 31.
Horst R. Schmidt, vice president of the organizing committee, said: “Everybody should take their time and take a good look at the fixture timetable and place their orders within the time frame.”
However there has been criticism that not enough tickets are going to fans by public sale. More than 1.8 million tickets are destined for governing body FIFA and its federations, the sponsors and others.
Germany’s national association of consumer protection councils Monday called on sponsors to give up some of their allocations to allow fans a chance to see World Cup matches.
Association spokesman Carel Mohn said official sponsor Deutsche Telekom alone was getting 25,000 tickets.
“If 10 sponsors each gave up 10,000 of their tickets for the free market that would be enough to fill more than a stadium, “ he said.
However the organizers say they have gone out of their way to distribute tickets fairly.
Without the global and national sponsors - who will have 18.9 per cent of tickets based on net stadium capacity - and television partners (2.2 per cent) the tournament could not be financed, they say.
Organizing committee president Franz Beckenbauer said: “We know from the sponsors that many of these tickets will find their way to fans by way of competitions.”
The organizers have a further 400,000 tickets for the so-called German football family - the clubs, regional football federations, official supporters groups as well as the venue cities.
Fans will have another opportunity of buying a ticket when the eight per cent FIFA contingents for each team go on sale.
Under the sales scheme, “team specific tickets” will enable fans to follow individual teams throughout the group and knock-out phases and eventually to the final.
“The fans will provide the image of this World Cup. We want to offer the best possible service and hope that all the stadiums are not only sold out but are occupied really to the last seat,” Beckenbauer said.
Schmidt said the organizers had calculated ticket income to come to 200 million euros to help cover the overall budget of 450 million euros
Ticket prices for the tournament between June 9 and July 9, 2006 start at 35 euros (about 45 dollars) for the lowest category seats for 47 group matches apart from the opening match, rising to 600 euros for a top seat at the final.
For the cheapest tickets, each applicant is limited to an order of two tickets for a maximum three matches. For other categories the limit is four tickets per applicant for a maximum of seven matches.
The organizers also maintain the tickets will be counterfeit- proof. Tickets will be sent out only six weeks before the start of the tournament and will contain an electronic chip containing matchday admission data.
Schmidt said this would help eliminate blackmarket sales.
