All Fans Given Chance for World Cup Tickets On-Line
Cohosts Japan and South Korea today hold separate ceremonies to kick off sales for the 32-team World Cup finals, considered by many to be the premier event of the sporting world.
And FIFA today will activate the tickets link on its Website (www.fifaworldcup.com) to allow anybody from anywhere in the soccer world to apply for a ticket.
"For the first time in history, every football fan in the world has an equal opportunity for the FIFA World Cup," said a notice on the tickets' link of the FIFA Website.
With ticket applications expected to far exceed supply, a march 28 lottery will determine who gets to see the games.
FIFA Korea is planning to begin airing television commercials and electronic sign ads for the ticketing campaign from today until March 14, FIFA Korea spokesman Lee Sang-Moo told Reuters.
"We haven't got any complaints about ticket sales or ticketing procedures so far, but we are ready to answer to any of those if any comes up later on," lee said.
------------ Cup of Several Firsts -----------------
The on-line ticket sale is one of several firsts about this cup. It is also the first to be held in Asia and the first to be cohosted -- by ancient rivals Japan and Korea who waged a bitter, expensive, and contentious campaign against each other before FIFA in the end decided to let them both stage the games.
South Korea will sell 230,000 tickets over the next month at prices ranging from 60,000 won to 500,000 won ($48-$400).
In total, 740,000 tickets will be sold in South Korea, with a second round of sales from September 1 to October 31 and the remainder to be offered in the first half of 2002.
About 70 percent of tickets will be sold to ordinary fans and the remainder to groups and sponsors, FIFA Korea said.
About 675,000 tickets will be sold from today in Japan, with some 170,000 reserved for sponsors. A second round of sales will take place in Japan next year.
FIFA, Korea and Japan combined expect to sell 3.18 million tickets.
(Reuter)