Clock Ticks on World Cup Ticket Sales

One day before the deadline to reserve tickets for the World Cup, millions of orders have gone in for the 812,000 tickets available.

"We don't have enough tickets and it's going to be that way right until the final whistle in the final game," said Franz Beckenbauer, head of Germany's organizing committee, on Wednesday in Munich.

Organizers said the run for the much sought-after tickets goes beyond the scope of all such events to date.

"We're exceptionally pleased at the high level of demand. It's further proof of the widespread passion for the World Cup in Germany," said the committee's senior vice president, Horst Schmidt. "We're equally delighted there have been no technical problems. The Internet has proven to be an outstanding sales channel."

Still hope for fans

Soccer fans have until Thursday at midnight CET to place their orders on the Web site www.FIFAworldcup.com. More than five million visitors from 191 countries have ordered tickets, organizers said. Over 90 percent are from Europe.

In the first sales phase, 812,000 tickets are available. Starting April 15, tickets will be allocated in a draw supervised by a notary. Successful applicants will receive written confirmation of their tickets about two weeks later. Exact seat and row numbers will be assigned at a later date.

"There is still legitimate hope for German fans to get tickets," said the committee's spokesman Jens Grittner. There are four more sales phases to come between May 1, 2005, and the final on July 9, 2006.

"But it was already clear before tickets went on sale that there would be more orders than tickets," Schmidt added. He said the demand would increase continuously right until the last minute.

Beckenbauer consoled everyone who's missing out on a ticket. "I don't have a ticket to the World Cup yet, either," he said. "I hope I can still get one."

Soccer promotes international understanding

The capacity of tickets for the 64 games in 12 World Cup stadiums totals 3.37 million. But some 440,000 tickets are earmarked for guests of state, guests of honor, media facilities, security reserves and sight obstruction. All in all, 2.93 million tickets can be sold.

Bavaria's premier and the head of the opposition conservative Christian Social Union, Edmund Stoiber, said he hoped the World Cup would bring "a piece of optimism and the sense of a new era" to Germany.

"Soccer brings people together," said Stoiber. "There is no other event like soccer that attracts so many people."