Getting World Cup Tickets?

**deadman** · 14/10/2005, 2:18 PM

The Irish team may not be travelling to Germany but I'm still interested in making the journey - switching my allegiance to Togo or Angola.

1) As a member of FIFA, do the FAI get an allocation of tickets for any of the world cup games?
2) and how would you go about getting your hands on these?

thanks

**gspain** · 14/10/2005, 3:17 PM

They do.

I'm not being flippant but send in an application. i imagine they'll only sell to block bookers though.

No point really if you're looking for England or Brazil but if you want to watch Togo or Angola as you say v Ecuador or Saudi Arabia then you might get them.

www.fifaworldcup.com will have tickets for sale after the draw and it's a fair bet that Togo etc will be the ones available.

As it could well be 20 years before we have a world cup in Europe again it's worth popping over for a couple of games however it certainly won't be anything like those we were in.

I'm hoping to go and support Iran and the Ivory Coast

**HarpoJoyce** · 15/10/2005, 12:08 PM

Originally Posted by gspain

I'm hoping to go and support Iran and the Ivory Coast

gspain, are you just going to reverse your Ireland flags for the Ivory Coast matches or get fresh ones?

**Bluebeard** · 18/10/2005, 11:34 AM

Fair Play Deadman, I'm planning to do the same, follow one of the newbies who will probably not be able to being a full support - Angola currently winning my vote, based on their classy kit, and memories of Zaire in the 70s, though I might turn Australian, depending.

**fbtn** · 18/10/2005, 1:21 PM

Looking to go myself as it could be a long time before I get another chance. Thinking of taking my young son - be great memories for him to get to a World Cup.

I get block-bookings through Harps so would it be them that I would look for the tickets off?

**gspain** · 18/10/2005, 3:08 PM

Originally Posted by fbtn

Looking to go myself as it could be a long time before I get another chance. Thinking of taking my young son - be great memories for him to get to a World Cup.

I get block-bookings through Harps so would it be them that I would look for the tickets off?

Best bet is straight after the draw keep watching www.fifaworldcup.com and get your name into the ticket ballot or whatever they do for the last sales phase. You could try friends/neighbours as well to give you extra chances in the ballot.

Also worth applying to your local Harps F.A.I. rep. Be realistic with what you look for - eg not England v Holland and Brazil v Japan. Pick teams with poor support and obviously games near each other as you don't want to be travelling up and down the country. The f.A.i. will get a handful of tickets per game so you'll need to be lucky but most of the sponsors requests etc will be for Brazil, England, Holland and the later rounds etc etc.

**NY Hoop** · 18/10/2005, 4:02 PM

Pick teams with poor support.

Exactly but if Togo are playing the Saudis in a 60,000 stadium on a tuesday afternoon I think its safe to say that tickets will not be a worry. Bunch of us going over ticketless just to take in whatever games we can.

Been to 3 World Cups and this whole ticket thing is over hyped! You always get sorted.........

Wonder will lucifer be selling tickets again at a World Cup?

KOH

**gspain** · 18/10/2005, 7:34 PM

Originally Posted by NY Hoop

Wonder will lucifer be selling tickets again at a World Cup?

KOH

Maybe I'll get him arrested again.

Think a few Rovers fans owe me pints for that.

**Colm** · 18/10/2005, 10:18 PM

Originally Posted by gspain

Maybe I'll get him arrested again.

Think a few Rovers fans owe me pints for that.

Please elaborate. You got him arrested? Seriously?

**gspain** · 19/10/2005, 9:49 AM

Originally Posted by Colm

Please elaborate. You got him arrested? Seriously?

Kind of

Posted this a few times before

2 of us arrived at Brazil v Argentina at Italia 90 looking for tickets. Touts were talking £200 a pop and the European Brazilians were paying. We were a bit despondent walking around the stadium and who did we see but Louis and Mary Hunt. "have you any tickets?" "Yes I have 400 but I'm trying to do a deal with the Argentinians for tickets for our game v Romania tomorrow". I asked him to keep 2 , my father knows you blah blah blah. They disappeared into the VIP entrance and we waited outside.

Twenty minutes later Louis comes back out and said the Argentinians didn't want them and he had 400 tickets to sell - Cat 1 and 2s at £50 a pop (think this was the price anyway) I got the first 2 and was writing a eurocheque for him. Quite a crowd had now gathered too looking for tickets. The mafia ran the touting for Italia90. Meanwhile the main touts went to the police and expressed concerns re this guy touting at £50 a pop when they were charging £200. The cops immediately lifted Louis and apparently held him for 2 hours until after the game with his 398 tickets.

My biggest regret was handing my eurocheque to a visibly distraught Mary Hunt "they've taken Louis" "they've taken Louis" We got great seats too.

My Dad was also there in a hotel "slightly" better than our tent and he met Mary Hunt a few days later and she couldn't remember meeting me she had been so upset and then opened her bag to find the eurocheque. Unfortunately it was subsequently cashed.

**NY Hoop** · 19/10/2005, 10:38 AM

Christ you wrote him a cheque?? Why didnt you abuse him from a height? The one regret I had from that WC was not seeing that slime.

Delighted that he was held with all the tickets til after the game though. There were rumours going around that Rovers fans had chased him down the street in Genoa

God I hope they are true. What goes around comes around, he'll get what's coming to him.

Mary Hunt? Wasnt she the one who wrote those stupid books about the big tournaments? " Hughton passes it to Townsend who passes it to........"

KOH

**gspain** · 19/10/2005, 4:27 PM

Originally Posted by NY Hoop

Christ you wrote him a cheque?? Why didnt you abuse him from a height? The one regret I had from that WC was not seeing that slime.

Delighted that he was held with all the tickets til after the game though. There were rumours going around that Rovers fans had chased him down the street in Genoa

God I hope they are true. What goes around comes around, he'll get what's coming to him.

Mary Hunt? Wasnt she the one who wrote those stupid books about the big tournaments? " Hughton passes it to Townsend who passes it to........"

KOH

Heard all sorts of rumours what Rovers fans did to him including when he went to an EMFA game with a lady friend (he sure knows how to impress a woman) and was met by a bunch of Tovers fans who by chance were there coz Rovers had no match.

Mary Hunt is the woman who wrote the books. She was F.A.I. interpreter for Euro88 and Italia90 and wrote books afterwards. I enjoyed the German one not because of her footballing insights (she knew nothing about the game) but she did capture the mood well.

If I recall correctly she just glossed over the incident in Turin but she was really traumatised and being stuck on her own outside a football stadium in Turin.

**mahermcwilliams** · 15/11/2005, 4:39 PM

The Fifa site sounds very complicated to get tickets with the conditional tickets etc. is there any outlets in ireland or agencies selling them! Other agencies on the net are very dear! What will i do?

**CollegeTillIDie** · 16/11/2005, 7:06 AM

I'm interested in finding out about that too. A number of people I know would like to see some group games at the Finals, one man' s son said they would even be happy to see Togo play Japan!

**dahamsta** · 16/11/2005, 7:35 AM

mahermcwilliams, please don't post in a thread and then start another on the same subject. We call that spam, and it's against the rules.

adam

**gspain** · 16/11/2005, 1:47 PM

Originally Posted by mahermcwilliams

The Fifa site sounds very complicated to get tickets with the conditional tickets etc. is there any outlets in ireland or agencies selling them! Other agencies on the net are very dear! What will i do?

The FIFA website is your best chance of getting them at face value. You can also try the F.A.I. if you are a block booker. It is easy to use particularly if you have a mastercard.

The agencies will charge ripoff prices and don't have tickets. They sell you a ticket for a price and then try and buy one for less than that. Read the stuff on here re Euroteam and Basle. Japanese fans got screwed too in France 98 with hundreds of them buying tickets form agencies that couldn't stump up the tickets.

Failing that pick games with African, Asian or some South American nations and try your luck outside.

**mahermcwilliams** · 16/11/2005, 7:57 PM

thanks for the the help! Hopefully i'll tickets now!!

**cullenswood** · 17/11/2005, 12:51 PM

Originally Posted by gspain

They do.

I'm not being flippant but send in an application. i imagine they'll only sell to block bookers though.

I contacted the FAI and they said that they "will not receive an allocation of tickets for our supporters"

**berni23** · 02/12/2005, 12:49 PM

of course not, because they are not in it!

**gspain** · 02/12/2005, 1:32 PM

Just noticed the previous reply now.

All national federations will get an allocation - the key thing i nthe cullenswood response is "for our supporters". I got tickets for 2 games in France 98 - Romania v Croatia (bit of a mess in bordeaux and we sat in different seats - loads of empty ones) and Brazil v Denmark. There were approx 16 Irish people sitting together at the gam ein Nantes presumably all F.A.I. tickets.

Having said that those kind of numbers won't go very far due to the demands of sponsors, officials etc. The chances of getting a ticket for any big team or even the big cities are virtually Zero. However if the Ivory Coast were playing Ecuador in Leipzig it would be worth an application as a block booker. You have nothing to lose.

Tickets get very expensive too for the later rounds - face value for a Cat 1 ticket for the semi final is €400. - €600 for the final.