FIFA admit tickets are over-priced

FIFA today admitted mistakes had been made in their World Cup ticket system and that many seats had been over-priced.

Michel Zen-Ruffinen, FIFA’s general secretary and the man in overall charge of the organisation of the tournament, confirmed that delays in printing tickets had also caused problems in the first two weeks.

Many empty seats at matches in Korea, including high-profile games such as France v Denmark, were due to FIFA’s policy of charging fans the same prices in the co-host countries of Korea and Japan, despite the per capita income being far lower in Korea.

Zen-Ruffinen said: ‘‘There have been problems with the printing and distribution of the tickets and all the parties involved should all admit they were making mistakes.

‘‘In Korea, for this country, the prices are probably too high. This is the decision that FIFA took - we decided to accept the same prices for the two countries which retrospectively was probably a mistake.

‘‘The level of wages is not the same and it is definitely more expensive comparatively for Korean fans to attend a match in their country than for Japanese fans in Japan.

‘‘At France v Denmark, many of the best seats in the stadium were empty because they were the most expensive.’’

Tickets for the cheapest games started at 60 dollars, beyond the reach of many Koreans. Other problems were caused by national associations ordering too many tickets and being unable to sell them.

The empty spaces embarrassed the Korean government to the extent they said they were considering legal action against Byrom, the British-based company who were in charge of ticketing.

Zen-Ruffinen defended Byrom saying: ‘‘We have had a problem with ticketing but hopefully it is now resolved.

‘‘It is not fair to blame this British company. They are really working to improve the situation and have developed a solution, and it must be said the problems are not as big as in France 98.

‘‘My feeling is some people, especially on the political side, were trying to distance themselves from these ticketing problems.’’

Zen-Ruffinen, who leaves his job after the World Cup as a result of his criticism of president Sepp Blatter, said he was pleased with the way co-hosting had been working.

He added: ‘‘The one thing is that the number of stadiums is too big - 20 stadiums for a World Cup is crazy.’’