THE FA Cup draw may still be made using balls and a plastic bowl, but when it comes to deciding who will get tickets for the World Cup finals this summer, the Germans will be using a mouse and a computer.
At 9am this morning, Horst R. Schmidt, the senior vice president of the organising committee, will double-click the mouse in his office in Frankfurt and set in motion a train of electronic events that could end with tickets to watch England in the final in Berlin on July 9 landing on our doormats.
The Rhineland Technical Inspection Authority has certified a special computer program that will be used to determine which applications for the 300,000 tickets that are up for grabs in this allocation are successful. In all, 677,900 fans have applied for a total of six million tickets.
“Our top priority is that every single participant has exactly the same chance,” Schmidt said. “There is no fairer way of distributing the tickets than by ballot and we have really worked hard with the seating plans in the 12 stadiums and are very pleased that we will be able to have an extra 50,000 tickets available to add to the original 250,000.”
The draw procedure will be supervised by a ballot official from the federal state of Hessen, but applicants will have to wait until February 15 to find out whether they have been successful. Those who are feeling unlucky or are impatient can still buy tickets from unofficial channels on the internet and through ticketing agencies — seats for the final were on offer for about £600 each yesterday.
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However, Schmidt has warned supporters who obtain tickets through unauthorised sources that they may be investigated and turned away at the turnstiles. Be warned, if there is anything worse than not being there when David Beckham lifts the World Cup, it has to be watching the drama unfold in the company of German police officers.
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The World Cup organising committee had planned to hold another two sales phases to distribute any remaining tickets, but an announcement on its revised plans is due to be made shortly. In the meantime, internet traders are promising to supply tickets at these prices:
England v Sweden, Cologne, June 6, £620; England v Paraguay, Frankfurt, June 10, £510; Holland v Argentina, Frankfurt, June 21, £390; Italy v Ghana, Hanover, June 12, £190; Paraguay v Trinidad & Tobago, Kaiserslautern, June 20, £165; Iran v Angola, June 21, £205