By Paul Nicholson
April 10 – Brazil’s hosting of the Confederations Cup this June is receiving positive boosts form all sides with the opening of the Arena Fonte Nova in Salvador being hailed as a major success and the news that 546,000 tickets have already been booked by fans.
The ticket sales are a key indicator of local interest in the event – Confederations Cup tournaments have not always played to sold out crowds and the six stadia being used in June in Brazil are all large capacity venues.
FIFA says that the demand for FIFA Confederations Cup Brazil 2013 tickets is unprecedented compared to previous editions. There are still 246,000 tickets available. “Despite the huge demand, there is still a good chance for fans to secure tickets for most of the matches before the end of the current sales phase on 28 May,” said Thierry Weil, FIFA Marketing Director.
Tickets can be booked via www.FIFA.com/ticketing. Unpaid tickets are returned to the site for public sale. The ticket section on www.FIFA.com/ticketing is updated in real time so that football fans can constantly check the availability of tickets for each match and each category.
FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke, who in 2012 had expressed concern over Brazil’s preparations forcing a stand-off with the organisers, but also a re-invigorated build schedule in country, was similarly positive about the progress in his monthly column on fifa.com. He did emphasise though that there is still a distance to go before being World Cup ready in 2014.
“For the FIFA Confederations Cup we will make it – it will be a fantastic tournament– but not all operational arrangements will be 100%. It is impossible to expect this to happen in the shortened preparation time – in most cases, less than two months – instead of the scheduled six, due to the compromises we made with the cities,” said Valcke.
“I want to reiterate: this will be impossible to repeat for the FIFA World Cup, and has been acknowledged by the federal government and LOC. The deadline for the FIFA World Cup stadiums delivery stands firm as December 2013. There will be no compromise. Organising a FIFA World Cup is an infinitely more complex and demanding job than staging the FIFA Confederations Cup, with only 25% of the number of matches.”
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