Ticket chaos loomed at the World Cup in Japan on Wednesday as organisers admitted they might be forced to ask thousands of fans to pick up their tickets on the match days.
The Japanese organising committee for the World Cup (JAWOC) has set up an emergency taskforce because about 150 000 tickets that are being printed in Britain have yet to arrive, a representative said.
JAWOC has also asked world governing body Fifa to investigate the delays.
”The possibility (of handing out tickets at stadiums) is very high … although we will work out the best way to handle the situation depending on when the tickets arrive,” representative Glenn Johnston said.
The tickets need to arrive in Japan by Friday to allow time for domestic courier deliveries before the matches, he said.
In the worst-case scenario, JAWOC may have to resort to on-the-spot handouts for about 20 000 tickets for matches to be played in early June, raising the spectre of a chaotic scramble.
”Obviously, that’s what we are trying to avoid,” Johnston said. There are various questions we have to answer and we are looking into. For example we have to create an area where you can pick up tickets.”
”We have just started preparing for such an event (on-the-spot distribution)” through consultations with the municipal governments hosting matches,” he added.
Byrom, a firm in Manchester, England, is handling printing of World Cup tickets for Fifa.
JAWOC has asked Fifa general secretary Michel Zen-Ruffinen for an investigation into the printing delay.
The World Cup is also being held in South Korea where fears of delays have eased.
A representative for the Korean World Cup Organising Committee in Seoul said 600 000 of the 704 000 tickets to be distributed in South Korea had arrived.
The representative also expressed confidence that all remaining 150 000 tickets for games in Korea would be sold.
”Now we have sold 85% of our tickets which is not a bad figure compared to previous World Cups,” said the representative Lin Byung-Taik.
”I think sales will go up after Korea held England to a draw and we are confident that all tickets will eventually be sold.”
South Korea’s performance in holding England to a 1-1 draw in a friendly international on Tuesday dominated sports pages on Wednesday.
The World Cup kicks off in Seoul on May 31 with the first matches in Japan played the day after. The tournament runs until June 30. – Sapa-AFP