Global sales start via internet

At least 1.1 million match tickets on public sale

812,000 match tickets go on sale from 1 February 2005 in the first 2006 FIFA World Cup™ ticket sales period. "But we will release at least 300,000 more tickets for sale before 15 January 2006," announced German Organising Committee (OC) senior vice-president Horst R. Schmidt at a joint FIFA/OC news conference at the Hotel Kempinski Gravenbruch in Neu-Isenburg. "And we know from experience that many more will also go on public sale after that," Schmidt continued.

According to the most up-to-date ticketing plans, the 12 FIFA World Cup stadiums boast a gross capacity of 3.37 million for the 64 FIFA World Cup matches. However, after taking away seats for VIP guests, the media, a security reserve and seats with restricted views, the gross capacity is reduced by around 440,000. According to the latest estimates, a total of 2.93 million tickets will go on sale.

The first of five sales periods begins on 1 February 2005 and ends on 31 March 2005, although the order in which applications are received has no bearing on the final allocation of tickets. "People should take their time, study the match schedule, and then apply within the given time frame. We're assuming demand will far exceed supply, so we will begin a ballot on 15 April 2005," Horst R. Schmidt explained. The ballot will be conducted electronically according to TÜV certified procedures in the presence of a notary public. Applicants who are allocated tickets will receive written confirmation indicating the number and category of tickets. Final seat allocation will be advised at a later date.

FIFA General Secretary Dr Urs Linsi explained the decision to begin sales for host nation Germany and the rest of the world simultaneously via the internet through www.FIFAworldcup.com. "The FIFA World Cup is a global event so ticket sales have to begin at the same time everywhere," Dr Linsi commented. To ensure as many fans as possible receive tickets, two limits have been placed on applications per household. The first covers price categories 1-3: a household may apply for a maxi-mum of four tickets per match for up to seven matches. The second limit applies to the cheapest tickets in category 4, where a maximum of two tickets per application for up to three matches applies. The cheapest "fan category" includes a total of approximately 260,000 tickets.

The first sales period also features Team Specific Tickets (TST) allowing fans to follow their favourite team from the group stage right up to the Final.

\In line with applicable regulations and contractual commitments, reserved ticket quotas are not included in the first sales period. This applies to FIFA member asso-ciations (205 in total) in general and the participating nations in particular, each of which receives eight percent of the tickets for matches involving their team.

Further substantial quotas based on net stadium capacities are reserved for the Of-ficial Partners and Official Suppliers (18.9 percent) and the TV partners (2.2 per-cent), whose licence fees constitute a significant proportion of revenues at the FIFA World Cup. "But what we know about the sponsors is that many of these tickets return to the fans by way of competition prizes," commented Franz Beckenbauer.

Later this year the German Football Association (DFB) Organising Committee will offer approximately 400,000 tickets to the so-called German football family - re-gional associations, first and second division clubs, fan organisations and the FIFA World Cup Host Cities and stadiums. "But our advice in the first instance is for peo-ple to apply for publicly available tickets," explained Horst R. Schmidt. Added OC President Franz Beckenbauer: "What I've said to everyone who's come up and asked me for tickets over the last few weeks is to get on the internet, because we can't guarantee tickets to anyone."

The 2006 FIFA World Cup OC and FIFA have established the legal basis for ticket sales in collaboration with the European Commission, the Federal Environment Min-istry, agricultural and consumer protection agencies and data protection authorities.

With the exception of tickets won in competitions run by companies which are not Official Partners or Official Suppliers of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, tickets are non-transferable.

MasterCard is the official method of payment of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Master-Card products are the only cards accepted for payment in the first four sales peri-ods. Alternatively, payments can be made by bank transfer or direct debit. More information is available at www.mastercard.com/fifaworldcup.

FIFA and the OC have established clear priorities. "The fans are the defining factor at a World Cup. Our aim is to provide an optimal service, and we're hoping not just to sell all the tickets, but to fill the stadiums down to the very last seat," declared Franz Beckenbauer. Added FIFA General Secretary Urs Linsi: "The FIFA and OC Ticketing Sub-committee has laid down the fairest possible guidelines which we hope will work well and be widely accepted." With an eye on the financial situation, Horst R. Schmidt said: "We've calculated ticket revenues of €200 million which we need to balance the books. That's based on selling 90 percent of the tickets, although obviously we'll do all we can to make it 100 percent."

Prices were set in December 2003, beginning at €35 for the cheapest category at 47 group matches (different prices apply to the Opening Match), up to €600 for the most expensive category 1 ticket at the Final on 9 July 2006.

The tickets are totally forgery-proof. Tickets will be dispatched around six weeks before the tournament and feature an embedded chip including access data. Sum-marised Horst R. Schmidt: "We have an effective weapon in our efforts to put a complete end to touting." Personal data such as names will not be stored on the chip, which contains only access information.

Source: FIFA

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