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A day before the start of the first stage of ticket sales for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™, FIFA’s Director of Marketing Thierry Weil, who is responsible for ticket sales, met with a group of media representatives. He clarified doubts about the ticketing process and presented the Ticketing Fan Guide, a clear, simple document with details on all the steps required to purchase tickets to the biggest football tournament on the planet.
At the Arena de Sao Paulo, venue of the competition’s Opening Match, Weil answered questions mainly relating to the initial stage of sales, which begins at 7am (Brasilia time) on 20 August and stretches to 10 October. The date on which tickets are requested is not important during this period, as all requests will be amalgamated at the end of the phase and processed together. If the number of requests received per game and category exceeds the number of tickets available, a lottery will be held to determine the applicants selected.
Weil underlined the advances made at the FIFA Confederations Cup Brazil 2013 in relation to the ticketing process. “We learnt some lessons at the Confederations Cup and in order to improve the sales system decided to open more Ticket Distribution Centres, in locations that are easy for people to access,” said Weil. “These centres will also be open earlier. The plan is to have them working by 15 April, with the Brazilian population in mind first and foremost,” FIFA’s Marketing Director highlighted, also announcing a new option of requesting tickets for home delivery by post. “Fans will be able to choose either to collect tickets at Distribution Centres or have them delivered to their home address, anywhere in the world.”
Prices relating to home delivery postage will be given on a case by case basis, after confirmation that the applicant has been selected. Delivery by post will not be available for requests involving clients eligible for concessions, who should present documentation to confirm their eligibility: those over 60 years old, students and recipients of the Bolsa Familia family grant. The first phase will see nearly a million tickets go on sale, of which at least 300,000 will be Category 4, offered on a priority basis to those eligible for these concessions.
After the blockbuster FIFA Confederations Cup, expectations for ticket sales for the FIFA World Cup are naturally high, but Thierry Weil endeavoured to explain the peculiarities of the process. “Speaking about predictions and expectations for sales is always complicated,” Weil said. “Personally, I imagine we will face demand similar to that seen in Germany in 2006, when there were, on average, seven applicants for each ticket,” he said. “But each situation is very specific. In South Africa in 2010, for instance, we sold 1.9 million tickets but the bulk of those were sold during the tournament, just before games, as culturally that’s how tickets are bought there.”
