Germany challenges tickets sales for World Cup
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-12-02 10:48

TICKETS UNPAID

Those on the waiting list had to pay up front because tickets may only be made available a few days before a given match, he said, adding about 40,000 people in the first sale round had not subsequently paid for their ticket allotment.

"I am totally convinced that there is no better system," Schmidt said.

The European Commission is also looking into complaints about the way soccer's governing body FIFA is selling the waiting list slots.

In May, the Commission forced organisers to change a system for selling the tieckts after complaints that it favoured credit card company Mastercard, one of the sponsors of the tounament.

World Cup organisers said on Thursday 61,000 applications for 140,000 tickets had been received in the conditional ticket offer running from Nov. 2 to Nov. 30.

Returned tickets are expected from national associations, sponsors or partners.

A third round of ticket sales begins on Dec. 12, three days after the World Cup draw. About 300,000 tickets will then be available and applications will have to be in by Jan. 15. Allocations will again be based on a lottery.

The World Cup runs from June 9 to July 9 and features 32 teams playing a total of 64 matches in 12 venues across Germany, with the final in Berlin.