People's cup, crooks' tickets

By Eman Abdel-Moeti

This week, a US travel agency, Prime Sport International (PSI), had to defend itself against accusations by the World Cup organising committee (CFO) that the burglary of tens of thousands of dollars and hundreds of tickets from the agency may have been a mere cover-up for its failure to deliver the tickets it promised to its customers. It was reported earlier this week that nearly 15,000 World Cup tickets along with a huge wad of cash had been stolen from PSI's Paris office. The agency offered a reward of one million francs ($166,000) to recover the stolen tickets. Although PSI said the tickets were useless to the thieves, because they all bear numbers and names, CFO officials said they were puzzled by the argument as some of the tickets appeared to have already been used. Furthermore, France Info radio said the agency's tour operator has been accused by some customers of selling fake tickets.

On another front, France Telecom, the country's main telephone company, was launching an investigation into a report that one of its workers leaked a phone number that allowed thousands of World Cup tickets to be bought unfairly. The tickets were among the 170,000 sold by the CFO on a first-come, first-served basis from 22 April through 8 May. The switchboard was so swamped that most callers had to dial more than 500 times before getting through. But a France Telecom worker gave a friend a special number that allowed direct access to the switchboard, said the daily Le Parisien. The friend, named only as Frédéric, then used the number to skip the line and buy about 400 tickets. It is not known whether the information may not have spread even further. "We became aware of a possible problem today and we will look into the situation immediately," said Estelle Rozine, a France Telecom spokeswoman. The CFO said it would file legal charges if necessary.

As a response to the 12,000 Japanese fans who were left ticketless for the World Cup, French police opened formal proceedings last week against two employees of ISL (International Sport and Leisure) France, a firm linked to FIFA's World Cup marketing partner ISL Worldwide. The two men, ISL France chief Marc Loison and Gilles Favard, a consultant for the company, face charges of fraud and misuse of corporate funds, judicial sources said. Loison is suspected of selling 500 tickets, destined for corporate clients, for personal gain.

ISL France is an independent firm in which ISL Worldwide has a non-executive 49 per cent stake. ISL Worldwide said in a statement that as soon as allegations of wrongdoing in World Cup ticket sales surfaced, it had demanded a full explanation from the French company. Four travel agencies in Japan had accused Favard's employer ISL France of failing to come up with the World Cup tickets paid for in advance, and they intend to press charges. ISL France promised 15,000 tickets to the four firms, including 9,000 for the Japanese team's three matches in the first round, but only 400-500 tickets were delivered. The 9,000 tickets account for nearly 40 per cent of the 23,000 missing tickets paid for by Japanese travel agents. Both FIFA and ISL Worldwide immediately leapt in to state they had "no relationship" with the French firm. In a statement, ISL Worldwide stressed that "ISL France has no relationship with FIFA in any capacity, either via ISL Worldwide or otherwise."

It seems that as long as the teams are playing, the stories and allegations will continue to surface. The thriving black market is caused partly by the fact that almost a million fewer tickets were printed for the 1998 finals compared with the tournament in the United States in 1994. There are also 12 more matches on the 1998 schedule. This has led to complaints about distribution, soaring black market prices and criminal activity.

Critics say ticket fraud is not the only problem. Allocating more than 20 per cent of seats to sponsors makes a nonsense of the World Cup supremo Michel Platini's pledge for a "people's cup".

The decision to hold matches in smaller stadiums has also contributed to pressure on tickets, critics say. Five out of the ten World Cup stadiums can accommodate a maximum of 40,000 spectators.