Wc 2006 Travel Plans

Discussion in 'USA Men: Fans & Travel' started by dcfan in bristow, Aug 8, 2004.

  1. dcfan in bristow

    dcfan in bristow New Member

    Aug 8, 2004
    Was wondering if anyone has begun making their plans to go to games in Germany?

    How are you going about obtaining tickets? Thru USSF, or can you get them directly from FIFA or the German association? Anyone know of any reliable ticket brokers worth recommending?

    What difficulties do you foresee in obtaining tickets if you wait until the actual draw next winter?
     
  2. McKinney_Burn

    McKinney_Burn New Member

    Jan 13, 2003
    Pizza Hut
    I am guessing that sometime soon, the 'Mother of all WC 2006 USA Travel Plans' thread will start.

    My plans are to try the Fifa draw, then I guess the Fed, then I guess SoccerVacations (if that is an option), and then just flying over to Germany that summer and groveling for tickets.

    My biggest hurdle will be the ticket situation for what will be a two year old when the Cup rolls around. Have heard differing stories about Korea/Japan, so will see how it goes.
     
  3. arkadygelman

    arkadygelman New Member

    May 22, 2003
    D.C. give or take
    look for the yahoo group "yanksingermany", a lot of people are on it.
     
  4. elainemichelle

    elainemichelle New Member

    Jul 20, 2002
    "yank singer many? what the hell is that?"

    I'm going with the draw first and then working my way down. I have repeatedly emailed Sam's Army to no avail.
     
  5. Thomas Flannigan

    Feb 26, 2001
    Chicago
    Elaine, there is a listserve called Yanks in Germany. It is a continuation of the Yanks in Korea discussion, taken private at least in part to avoid the heckling and disruption of fan planning for our national team that you see here on Big Soccer. But for that well-crafted listserve we could not have pulled off what we did in Korea in terms of fan support.
    Don't worry about the Sam's Army email. Most likely US Soccer will offer tickets if you have registered with their web page and are getting their emails. The good news is the Germans insisted on having some cheap seats so there will be 30 Euro prices behind the goals. Thirty Euros is 39 dollars now and God knows what it will be in 2006 with our collapsing currency. But it could be worse.
    Americans may luck out because ticket demand is still relatively weak here. In other countries it will be a lottery for the national allocation, for sure.
     
  6. Mikeymike15

    Mikeymike15 Member

    Jul 7, 2004
    Atlanta
    Uggh....can't stand this server MTC.....

    Anyways, we have a group of us who will be applying for "Follow My Team" tickets through both USSoccer.com and/or Fifaworldcup.com (which ever happens first), maybe even both. Most of us will be staying for at least two weeks if not the month. We plan on renting an apartment in Munich or Berlin as a base then "train"ing it to whereve the match is the day before.

    I agree that demand is relatively weak here in the States so we should be able to get tix, but I'm unfamiliar with the process that occured in WC 2002 since I scalped all my tickets to non-US games in Japan. (Paid out the arse for England-Denmark tix)

    I was able to get face-value tix to great Semi-Final games for EURO 2004 through the EURO web-site but like I'm doing now, I purchased the tickets 9 months ahead of time when they were on sale. I also believe that being a non-european resident increased my chances (read: Portugals desire for tourist revenue). That will naturally not be an advantage during WC 2006 but I agree that US demand is relatively weak. I was able to make a boat load of cash on my extra England v Portugal tix when I was over their (sucks to be the english when it comes to that)
     
  7. IASocFan

    IASocFan Moderator
    Staff Member

    Aug 13, 2000
    IOWA
    Club:
    Sporting Kansas City
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I've marked Feb. 1, 2005 on my calendar. It's the announced opening day for WC2006 tickets from fifa.com.
     
  8. hoboken16

    hoboken16 Member

    Jan 16, 2003
    Jersey City, NJ USA
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I also got tickets for Euro 2004, I thought it would help that I was a solo so they could drop my butt anywhere but I only got the opening match out of the 4 I requested
     
  9. Mikeymike15

    Mikeymike15 Member

    Jul 7, 2004
    Atlanta
    I had three games in 3 days in Lisbon, saw Czech Rep v. Germany, England V. Portugal, and France v. Greece. The only game I had difficulty selling my tix to was the Germany-Czech games....

    Anyways, if people have good suggestions on how to reserve an apartment for a month in germany, prerably a city center, then let me know!
     
  10. Qamle

    Qamle Member

    May 2, 2004
    San Diego
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Haha. Just graduated college with no money... Looks like I'll have to get tix with the hope that I can one day afford the trip.
     
  11. Kevin Etzel

    Kevin Etzel Member

    Jul 18, 2000
    New York
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    As you are probably aware Berlin is quite remote from the other match sites, although there is more to do there between games. Munich is at the southern end of the match consentrated region from Munich up to Hannover. Of course it all depends on which teams get drawn to which groups. I am considering a more central location like the area around Heidelberg, Mainz, Koblenz, etc. I am hoping these non-match site cities will be cheaper. It is a trade off between lower cost and being located in the center of the soccer atmosphere. Also, my situation is I will be bringing my 11-year-old son. My focus will be on the matches, showing him some of the German sights and less on being in the middle of an area with lots of beergardens. I suspect your focus may differ.
     
  12. FoxBoro 143

    FoxBoro 143 Member+

    Jan 18, 2004
    MA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Wouldn't it be great if ALL US supporters could decide to choose 1 city as their primary spot? How about after the draw we decide which city would make the most sense dependeing on where we are playing etc, and we get all US fans to set up near that city. We could have huge pre-match parties the day before it would be fantastic.
    Just a thought.
     
  13. Gioca

    Gioca Member

    Jun 13, 2004
    Hartford
    Club:
    US Città di Palermo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Definitely.

    By the way, is anyone going alone? I don't know if I can convince any friends to come along, but I really want to be there.
     
  14. Gioca

    Gioca Member

    Jun 13, 2004
    Hartford
    Club:
    US Città di Palermo
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I will graduate in December and I'm planning to do the exact same thing! If we can't, there's always Ebay or something, right? But I intend to buy the tickets with the sole intent of attending, and would sell at face to Americans only if needed.
     
  15. Mikeymike15

    Mikeymike15 Member

    Jul 7, 2004
    Atlanta
     
  16. Fevernova99

    Fevernova99 Member

    May 3, 2003
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Yea and march to the stadium as a group like the dutch in 2004! That would be great but we would be sitting ducks for the al-qaeda...and the german police will make sure we dont do it, sucks to be an american abroard in recent times.
     
  17. rkeane15

    rkeane15 New Member

    Jan 25, 2004
    Portland, OR
    me and a friend are planning on going to germany. neither of us have ever done anything like this. i see you guys talking about fifa draws and getting them from ussf. is it possible to buy a package to see all of usa's games? thats the main reason we are going, then to see some other games in between. i just really confused on how the ticket sales are going to work. if they go on sale in feb., we arent even done w/ qualifying yet. i could ask a million questions like that, but i wont. i guess ill just wait till feb.
     
  18. Mikeymike15

    Mikeymike15 Member

    Jul 7, 2004
    Atlanta
    Exact plans have not been laid out yet but UEFA had 2 options to purchase for EURO 2004,

    - "Follow your team" package (using the UEFA process to the World Cup)
    You purchase in advance 7 games at the face value of each ticket for the cateogory you apply for (i.e. 3 group games, 1 round of 16, 1 quarter, 1 semi, 1 final). If you're team fails to qualify, they refund all your money back minus a service charge....If they qualify you will be sent 3 tix to each pool game plus vouchers to the remaining playoff games. Should your team advance, your voucher can be used to pick up the tickets at the german equivalent of a "will call" booth the day of the match. If your team does not get to the playoffs, the pro-rated amount of money will be refunded back to your account minus a service charge. Essentially you're pre-paying for tickets.

    - Single game tickets
    As described, you're gambling on the luck of the draw for which teams show up to which games you've purchased.


    in addition to the above, FIFA will allocate a certain amount of tickets to the US National Association. There you'll be able to purchase tickets for game 1 or 2 or 3, you'll just have to wait to figure out where they will ultimately be played.

    hope this helps
     
  19. rkeane15

    rkeane15 New Member

    Jan 25, 2004
    Portland, OR
    yea, it does, a lot. thankyou.
     
  20. Kevin Etzel

    Kevin Etzel Member

    Jul 18, 2000
    New York
    Club:
    New York Red Bulls
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
     
  21. BhoysFC1995

    BhoysFC1995 New Member

    Nov 30, 1999
    NYC
    a march in will be great. as for 'sitting ducks', i dont plan on letting fear dictate my actions in germany (or anywhere). it only 'sucks' if you let.

    as for ticket details, i guess the only safe thing to say is they will let out details by january 31st :)
     
  22. Bonji

    Bonji Moderator

    Feb 4, 2003
    Denver, Colorado
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I'm going for sure. I'm glad I found this thread to start thinking about it. My wife already knows we're going and I have about 6 friends who have said they'll go as well. It is going to be awesome. My first World Cup. I can't wait!!!
     
  23. The Magpie

    The Magpie Member

    Nov 19, 1998
    Cambridge, MA
    "Yea and march to the stadium as a group like the dutch in 2004!"

    Kinda like this?

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  24. Bonji

    Bonji Moderator

    Feb 4, 2003
    Denver, Colorado
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States

    That is awesome!
     
  25. J-Rod

    J-Rod New Member

    Aug 17, 2004
    We have this dream of traveling to the WC in Germany. As I have a (to be) 10-year-old son, we are interested in a safe family environment. I live and die for the USMNT, but we enjoy watching other national teams also. Too bad it will be impossible to watch Germany play. We know of at least one other similar family in our local soccer community who is also interested in going to Germany. I’ll bet we can find others. For now, we envision an extended vacation, using non-game days to explore as much of Europe as possible. We have never been to Europe as we were waiting for our son to grow old enough to appreciate that type of vacation versus going to Disneyworld etc. Before he was born, and when he was a baby, we couldn’t afford a vacation to Europe. Regarding safety concerns, my parents visit Spain at least once a year. However, because of security issues in Spain this year, they opted to join us on our vacation to the Caribbean. It was nice to have them along.

    Thanks for the info many have provided on this thread. I will monitor it often. I think it is time to buddy up to some of my German-American acquaintances. :)
    JR
     

Share This Page