Fans set for bonanza as FAI seek 6,000 tickets for Georgia game

IRISH soccer fans could be set for a ticket bonanza for next week’s World Cup qualifier against Georgia after the decision to relocate the fixture to the Germany city of Mainz.

The FAI revealed it is seeking over 6,000 tickets for the September 6 match — although, under FIFA rules, it is only entitled to receive an official allocation of 1,000 tickets.

The FAI sought the extra tickets for the neutral venue in anticipation of at least 5,000 Irish fans travelling to the central German city for the crucial opening World Cup 2010 qualifier.

Only about 1,000 were expected to make the arduous trip to Georgia.

Under FIFA regulations, the away team is entitled to 10% of the capacity of the stadium where the game is played.

Although the Burchwegstadion in Mainz can accommodate 20,000 people, its official capacity has been reduced to 10,000 for next Saturday’s match because of FIFA’s rules on the use of all-seater stadia for World Cup games.

The Georgian Football Federation retains control of ticket allocation, despite FIFA’s decision to move the tie following the outbreak of hostilities between Georgia and Russia.

The FAI hopes it will now be able to obtain more tickets, although the Georgian football authorities may be naturally reluctant to accommodate rival fans.

An FAI spokesperson confirmed the Georgian FA was entitled to withhold spare or unsold tickets from the FAI.

“They are only obliged to give us 10% of the ground’s capacity but hopefully we will be able to accommodate all those travelling to Mainz for the game,” said a spokesperson.

The FAI also confirmed the 1,000 fans who had sought match tickets for the game in Tbilisi would be given first preference for the revised venue in the case of ticket restrictions. The Irish soccer authorities also hope to arrange to be able to sell tickets for the game at the stadium.

Tour operators who were originally due to bring 370 supporters to Georgia were yesterday making alternative travel arrangements for the revised trip to Germany.

“At the moment we are just trying to sort out hotel accommodation in Mainz,” said a spokesperson for Ray Treacy Travel, who said no fans had sought cancellations because of the change of venue.

Many supporters who paid an average of €2,500 for the two-match package may even get a refund due to the lower cost of travelling to Germany instead of Georgia.

However, several hundred fans who are believed to have made their own travel arrangements to get to Tbilisi could find themselves out of pocket to the tune of several hundred euro.

One such supporter, Jim Ryan, from Watergrasshill, Co Cork, was more fortunate as he had originally paid around €450 to book flights to travel from Dublin to Tbilisi via Prague with Czech Airlines.

“When we heard of the change of venue, we originally planned to just fly to Prague and hire a car to take us to Mainz,” he said.

“However, Czech Airlines have offered to switch our flights so that we can fly to Frankfurt instead of Tbilisi for no extra charge which was very accommodating of them.”