MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

FIFA warns about buying World Cup tickets from unauthorized sellers

The Stubhub website was offering tickets made available by buyers priced from 2,300 dollars for the opening Brazil-Croatia game

FIFA has told fans buying World Cup tickets from unauthorized sellers that they could be barred from stadiums. Three weeks from the opening match, FIFA said yesterday that it “cancels tickets discovered as illegally sold or re-sold with the bearers risking not being permitted entry.” FIFA marketing director Thierry Weil said some fans have already been affected.

 “Over the last few weeks we have unfortunately seen more and more people leaving our ticket centers disappointed as they failed to collect their tickets purchased through unofficial websites,” Weil said in a statement.

FIFA said its website is the “only legitimate source” for tickets, including a re-sale section for buyers unable to attend.

Soccer’s governing body did not identify “companies, websites and individuals” it said was “offering tickets to unsuspecting fans through unauthorized resells at exorbitant prices.”

The Stubhub website was offering tickets made available by buyers priced from 2,300 dollars for the Brazil-Croatia game on June 12 in Sao Paulo. Viagogo’s cheapest offer was for 1,149 dollars.

FIFA said it is a crime in Brazil “to sell or supply a ticket for more than the face price,” and it has provided information to prosecuting authorities.

“The efforts are not limited to Brazil but applied on an international scale in engagement with local authorities in relevant jurisdictions and in particular in close collaboration with consumer protection authorities, which have far-reaching and efficient legal resources,” FIFA said.

Almost three million tickets were made available for the 64 matches. Adding seats for guests and media, the total World Cup stadium capacity is expected to exceed 3.3 million.

The 2014 World Cup is the most valuable, lucrative and expensive in FIFA history. Record numbers include a 35 million prize to the winning team’s soccer federation, 4 billion commercial revenue for FIFA, and a 14 billion bill for Brazil.

“The financial success — we have it, it is done,” FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke said this month of the World Cup commercial operations. “The ticket sales success is there, we have never sold so many tickets.”