The first phase of ticket sales for the 2006 FIFA World Cup™ will commence on 1 February 2005, when 812,000 tickets are released for general sale.

According to the latest seating plans, the cumulative overall capacity for the tournament’s 64 matches at the twelve FIFA World Cup™ stadiums in Germany will be 3.37 million. However, current estimates indicate that this figure will need to be reduced by around 440,000 to allow for visiting state dignitaries, guests of honour, media installations, security personnel and seats with restricted views, leaving a total of 2.93 million tickets for sale to the public.

FIFA and the German organising committee confirmed these details at a joint international media conference today (Monday, 24 January) in Neu-Isenburg, near Frankfurt am Main (Germany). The first of the five stages in the sales process will commence at 0.00h (CET) on 1 February 2005 and close at 0.00h on 1 April 2005.

Given that demand is expected to greatly exceed supply, tickets will not be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, but by means of an electronic ballot, which will be conducted on 15 April 2005 under notarial supervision and in accordance with German technical inspection authority (TÜV) standards. All successful ticket orders will be ratified by written booking confirmation, specifying the category and number of tickets allocated. Notification of precise seat numbers will follow at a later date.

‘The World Cup is a global event, and that means we have to launch ticket sales all around the world at the same time,’ stressed FIFA General Secretary Dr Urs Linsi, explaining the decision for sales on the www.FIFAworldcup.com website to commence within host nation Germany at the same time as the rest of the world. During the first ticketing phase, it will also be possible to buy Team Specific Tickets (TSTs), which allow fans to attend all of their favourite team’s matches from the group stage through to the final.

For more information:

FIFA media office – tel. : +41-43/222 72 72, fax : +41-43 222 73 73, e-mail : media@fifa.org