[Bigdog]

FYI:

U.S. Soccer Fan-
We are passing along the information below from FIFA on ticket sales for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany to our ussoccerfan.com membership. We will share with you any additional information on World Cup ticket sales that becomes available to us in the future.

Should the U.S. Men's National Team successfully qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Finals, U.S. Soccer will receive an allocation of tickets from FIFA. As noted below, "the participating nations ...[receive] eight percent of the tickets for matches involving their team." Select tickets from that allotment would be made available to registered U.S. Soccer fans at
http://cl.exct.net/?fe5e157372650379...71640074751572
ussoccerfan.com(details on that process have yet to be finalized).

http://cl.exct.net/?fe5d157372650379...71640074751572
Tickets are on sale now for the United States Men's National Team's first home game of the final round of qualifyingfor the 2006 FIFA World Cup on Wednesday, March 30, at Legion Field in Birmingham, Ala., against Guatemala.

U.S. Soccer is also pleased to introduce the
http://cl.exct.net/?fe65157372650379...71640074751572
Ultimate Fan Ticketfor World Cup Qualifying matches, a premium ticket package that will not only give fans a top-level seat in the stadium, but will give them VIP access to the field before and after the game, a custom U.S. National Team jersey with their name and number, and other special benefits throughout the gameday event.

http://cl.exct.net/?fe64157372650379...71640074751572
If you are interested in tickets to matches for the U.S. Men's National Team's World Cup Qualifying Matches please visit the
http://cl.exct.net/?fe63157372650379...71640074751572
"Tickets"page at
http://cl.exct.net/?fe62157372650379...71640074751572
ussoccer.com.

Thank you for supporting U.S. Soccer!

Tickets for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany Will Go On Sale February 1, 2005

FIFA announced on Monday the ticketing procedures for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany. Public sale of tickets will open Tuesday, February 1, 2005.

812,000 match tickets go on sale from February 1, 2005, in the first 2006 FIFA World Cup ticket sales period. "But we will release at least 300,000 more tickets for sale before January 15, 2006," announced German Organising Committee (OC) senior vice-president Horst R. Schmidt at a joint FIFA/OC news conference at the Hotel Kempinski Gravenbruch in Neu-Isenburg. "And we know from experience that many more will also go on public sale after that," Schmidt continued.

Links:


http://cl.exct.net/?fe61157372650379...71640074751572
Tickets Home [FIFAworldcup.com]

http://cl.exct.net/?fe60157372650379...71640074751572
Prices & Matches [FIFAworldcup.com]

http://cl.exct.net/?fe5f157372650379...71640074751572
Complete Match Schedule (.pdf) [FIFAworldcup.com]

http://cl.exct.net/?fe5e157372650379...71640074751572
FAQ [FIFAworldcup.com]

http://cl.exct.net/?fe5d157372650379...71640074751572
Qualifying: U.S. Soccer Ticket Information

http://cl.exct.net/?fe5c157372650379...71640074751572
Qualifying: Ultimate Fan Ticket
According to the most up-to-date ticketing plans, the 12 FIFA World Cup stadiums boast a gross capacity of 3.37 million for the 64 FIFA World Cup matches. However, after taking away seats for VIP guests, the media, a security reserve and seats with restricted views, the gross capacity is reduced by around 440,000. According to the latest estimates, a total of 2.93 million tickets will go on sale.

The first of five sales periods begins on February 1, 2005, and ends on March 31, 2005, although the order in which applications are received has no bearing on the final allocation of tickets. "People should take their time, study the match schedule, and then apply within the given time frame. We're assuming demand will far exceed supply, so we will begin a ballot on 15 April 2005," Horst R. Schmidt explained. The ballot will be conducted electronically according to TUV certified procedures in the presence of a notary public. Applicants who are allocated tickets will receive written confirmation indicating the number and category of tickets. Final seat allocation will be advised at a later
date.

FIFA General Secretary Dr. Urs Linsi explained the decision to begin sales for host nation Germany and the rest of the world simultaneously via the internet through
http://cl.exct.net/?fe64157372650379...71640074751572
www.FIFAworldcup.com. "The FIFA World Cup is a global event so ticket sales have to begin at the same time everywhere," Dr Linsi commented. To ensure as many fans as possible receive tickets, two limits have been placed on applications per household. The first covers price categories 1-3: a household may apply for a maxi-mum of four tickets per match for up to seven matches. The second limit applies to the cheapest tickets in category 4, where a maximum of two tickets per application for up to three matches applies. The cheapest "fan category" includes a total of approximately 260,000 tickets.

The first sales period also features Team Specific Tickets (TST) allowing fans to follow their favorite team from the group stage right up to the Final.

In line with applicable regulations and contractual commitments, reserved ticket quotas are not included in the first sales period. This applies to FIFA member associations (205 in total) in general and the participating nations in particular, each of which receives eight percent of the tickets for matches involving their team.

Further substantial quotas based on net stadium capacities are reserved for the Official Partners and Official Suppliers (18.9 percent) and the TV partners (2.2 per-cent), whose licence fees constitute a significant proportion of revenues at the FIFA World Cup. "But what we know about the sponsors is that many of these tickets return to the fans by way of competition prizes," commented Franz Beckenbauer.

Later this year the German Football Association (DFB) Organising Committee will offer approximately 400,000 tickets to the so-called German football family - regional associations, first and second division clubs, fan organisations and the FIFA World Cup Host Cities and stadiums. "But our advice in the first instance is for people to apply for publicly available tickets," explained Horst R. Schmidt. Added OC President Franz Beckenbauer: "What I've said to everyone who's come up and asked me for tickets over the last few weeks is to get on the internet, because we can't guarantee tickets to anyone."

The 2006 FIFA World Cup OC and FIFA have established the legal basis for ticket sales in collaboration with the European Commission, the Federal Environment Ministry, agricultural and consumer protection agencies and data protection authorities.

With the exception of tickets won in competitions run by companies which are not Official Partners or Official Suppliers of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, tickets are non-transferable.

http://cl.exct.net/?fe63157372650379...71640074751572


http://cl.exct.net/?fe62157372650379...71640074751572
Apply now for the U.S. Soccer Federation Platinum MasterCard(r)
MasterCard is the official method of payment of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. MasterCard products are the only cards accepted for payment in the first four sales periods. Alternatively, payments can be made by bank transfer or direct debit. More information is available at
http://cl.exct.net/?fe61157372650379...71640074751572
www.mastercard.com/fifaworldcup.

FIFA and the OC have established clear priorities. "The fans are the defining factor at a World Cup. Our aim is to provide an optimal service, and we're hoping not just to sell all the tickets, but to fill the stadiums down to the very last seat," declared Franz Beckenbauer. Added FIFA General Secretary Urs Linsi: "The FIFA and OC Ticketing Sub-committee has laid down the fairest possible guidelines which we hope will work well and be widely accepted." With an eye on the financial situation, Horst R. Schmidt said: "We've calculated ticket revenues of 200 million Euros which we need to balance the books. That's based on selling 90 percent of the tickets, although obviously we'll do all we
can to make it 100 percent."

http://cl.exct.net/?fe60157372650379...71640074751572
Prices were set in December 2003, beginning at 35 Euros for the cheapest categoryat 47 group matches (different prices apply to the Opening Match), up to 600 Euros for the most expensive category 1 ticket at the Final on July 9, 2006.

The tickets are totally forgery-proof. Tickets will be dispatched around six weeks before the tournament and feature an embedded chip including access data. Summarised Horst R. Schmidt: "We have an effective weapon in our efforts to put a complete end to touting." Personal data such as names will not be stored on the chip, which contains only access information.

For further information on FIFA's Ticket Sales procedures for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, please visit
http://cl.exct.net/?fe5f157372650379...71640074751572
FIFAworldcup.com.

This email was sent by:U.S. Soccer
1801 S. Prairie Ave. Chicago, IL, 60616, United States

[SABuffalo786]

I think I'll wait for the USSF allocation.

[The Magpie]

Likewise.

[Bigdog]

Raises pint, I mean hand : )
Me too.

[Hosscat]

I trust the USSF again.... The FIFA plan only accepts Mastacard and it's pretty damn confusing to boot. I would like to get tickets to an England or Brazil game somehow though.

[Phee]

Originally Posted by Bigdog

Raises pint, I mean hand : )
Me too.

Based on the seating capacities of the various stadiums, that could be less than 2,500 tickets per game. Don't you think there will be more demand than that? I'd rather get them from ussf, but it seems like a risk.

[Bigdog]

Im not going on the perverbial limb and tell you to wait. : ) Im sure it would be best for as many supporters as possible to get tickets through Fifa now, and then leave the USSoccerfan allotment for the rest of us. How does that sound ? : )

Originally Posted by Phee

Based on the seating capacities of the various stadiums, that could be less than 2,500 tickets per game. Don't you think there will be more demand than that? I'd rather get them from ussf, but it seems like a risk.

[Chelsey]

I'm just going to buy them from Fifa and hope I get picked in the lottery.

[Jay Cee]

I think it's a risk to wait for US Soccer. They had tickets during the last world cup because no one was going to Korea. Lots are going now, including the players, their families, and sponsors. Those people will get first rights to the tickets and then whatever is left over will go the US Soccer fans. Good luck if you wait!

For the person who posted you can only pay with MasterCard. Check again, you can pay through your bank account wire transfer.

[JoeSoccerFan]

Originally Posted by Jay Cee

For the person who posted you can only pay with MasterCard. Check again, you can pay through your bank account wire transfer.

Yes, but there maybe additional expenses.

From the FIFA FAQ ticket page

29. What do I have to keep in mind when paying by bank transfer?

If you are not holder of a bank account in Germany, or if you prefer not to pay by credit card you can pay by bank transfer, provided you agree to take over bank charges.
<edit for EU banks>
If you hold a bank account outside the EU, you can use the so called OUR method of money transfer. In this case you must pay the transfer fees of your bank and of the receiving bank as well as any other fees arising so that the full invoiced amount will be credited to the FIFA 2006 account without any deductions. Important: Only the bank transfer methods above will be accepted. These methods are detailed in the confirmation of your application. Please contact your bank for more information on the methods described above. Please do note the payment deadlines. The payment deadline is the date of the payment credited to the receiver account. It is not the date of the money transfer order.