The measures agreed by FIFA, JAWOC and the FIFA World Cup Ticketing Bureau (WCTB, operated by Byrom plc on behalf of FIFA) during their meeting on 3 June in Tokyo have allowed for a marked improvement of the ticket situation for the matches in Japan and in particular for the three games for which the remaining tickets were sold over the phone and via the official ticketing website.
In the interest of fans, the inventories for these three matches had been split for sales over the phone and the internet. The late availability of tickets is due to the fact associations relinquished part of their quota at
short notice, ticket returns and to various logistical issues that now have been solved.
Over the phone, 3,000 tickets for match 15 Russia vs. Tunisia on 5 June 2002 in Kobe were sold within one hour and half, whereas 900 tickets for the match 17 in Ibaraki Germany vs. Ireland were sold in 15 minutes. The sale of
2400 tickets for match 19 between Cameroon and Saudi Arabia in Saitama is expected to be finished in a similarly swift manner.
Sales via the official FIFA World Cup(tm) ticketing website at www.fifatickets.com
Fans snapped up 599 tickets for the match Russia – Tunisia, 969 tickets for the match Germany – Ireland and 1,824 tickets for the game Cameroon – Saudi Arabia. The site access problems experienced over the last few days were due
to the fact that users, who had managed to log on to the site, stayed online waiting for tickets to put on sale for a game of their choice and thus clogged the access for other users. For this reason, users are now
automatically logged off the site after 15 minutes.
As part of their daily review of the ticketing situation, FIFA, JAWOC and Byrom agreed today Wednesday 5 June in Tokyo to continue the sales operation over the phone and the internet, while taking into account that the situation in the respective host countries Korea and Japan is different and warrants a different approach. To this end, meetings are held with KOWOC as well. A separate media release will be published in due course.
For the remaining first round matches in Japan, the tickets still unsold will be put on sale as per the separate list and channels (see following page) with the available inventories split on a 50:50 basis.
For the matches of the second round onward, different provisions will apply due to the fact that by way of advance reservations through team and venue specific ticket series, the inventories will vary in accordance with the
teams that qualify for the latter stages of the event.
Horst R. Schmidt, member of the FIFA Sub-committee for ticketing, said: ‘FIFA, Byrom and the organizers in Japan have been able to find a solution which caters for the needs of the fans while making sure that security and
other arrangements remain respected. The internet and the dynamic management of the ticket inventories play a crucial role, especially for the second round and the following stages. We are confident to find a similarly
successful approach for Korea’, Mr Schmidt added.
JAWOC’s Tournament Director, Junji Ogura concurred by commenting: ‘JAWOC is pleased that a solution has been found for the rest of the first round matches here in Japan whereby the Japanese public can apply both via the internet and over the phone to purchase tickets. I am absolutely convinced that we will thus be able to have full stadiums.’
2002 Match ticket allocations Japan – remainder of first round
Date Match no. Venue Match FIFA WCTB JAWOC Total
Internet Phone
8 June 25 Ibaraki Italy v. Croatia 1600 1600 3200
9 June 27 Miyagi Mexico v. Ecuador 1950 1950 3900
9 June 29 Yokohama Japan v. Russia 750 750 1500
10 June 31 Oita Tunisia v. Belgium 2150 2150 4300
11 June 35 Shizuoka Cameroon v. Germany 1650 1650 3300
11 June 36 Yokohama Saudi Arabia v. Ireland 1600 1600 3200
12 June 37 Miyagi Sweden v. Argentina 1900 1900 3800
12 June 38 Osaka Nigeria v. England 1100 1100 2200
13 June 43 Oita Mexico v. Italy 1350 1350 2700
13 June 44 Yokohama Ecuador v. Croatia 3250 3250 6500
14 June 45 Osaka Tunisia v. Japan 750 750 1500
14 June 46 Shizuoka Belgium v. Russia 1750 1750 3500
Total of tickets available for first round matches in Japan (as of match 25) 39600.
For more details contact:
FIFA
T: +41-1/254 9800
F: +41-1/384 9696