Here we go again with the ticket allocation “adventure”…
FIFA announced that the first phase of World Cup 2010 tickets would go on sale Thursday February 20th through March 31st of 2009 and if you wanted to secure some tickets you had to log on to FIFA.com starting at noon Central European time. (GMT + 1).
If you were among the lucky “Random Draw” winners then you have to look for hotel rooms and figure out transportation to and from stadiums and airport-hotel-airport in the midst of what I am sure will be a chaotic month in South Africa.
Your best bet is to go with a “Hospitality Package”.
FIFA General Secretary, Jérôme Valcke, announced, “The rights (Hospitality) have been awarded to the best bidder.
Bid winners MATCH Hospitality is based in Zug (Switzerland) with offices in Zurich and Johannesburg and is a subsidiary of Byrom Holdings PLC (Byrom).
A reminder that FIFA’s official ticketing office based in Manchester for previous World Cups was Byrom Consultants.
Remember Byrom and Warner were involved in the WCT scandal investigation as Warner and other FIFA “honchos” had to order tickets through Byrom Consultants.
Match announced in 2007 that it had concluded separate agreements for hotel and non-hotel accommodation for the World Cup. This is the first time that non-hotel accommodation will be contracted and promoted by the global football body (FIFA and MATCH).
This includes accommodation such as guesthouses and bed-and-breakfast establishments. Therefore, in other words, they have corralled and secured practically all reasonable sleeping quarters for next summer.
Therefore, before I dig myself deeper into the can of worms, good luck with your plans for South Africa 2010. Even if you are among the lucky lottery winners, be prepared to sleep in your rental car or a park bench because Bed and Breakfast Rooms that normally go for $35 dollars a night are currently selling fro $300 dollars a night in Johannesburg and you need to go through MATCH first.
I will investigate and will be back to guide you through the “adventure”.
