FIFA launches another World Cup ticket sales

 The sales according to the body is expected to end on January 15, 2006.  "As with the first

sales period for the 2006 Fifa global soccer showcase, tickets will be distriuted after a ballot, since it is assumed that, demand will out weigh supply, the sellers said.

They also added that, the order in which the bookings are received will have no bearing on the attribution of the tickets.  In defence of the ballot system, the local organizing committee Vice President,stated:

"Fans from around he world the world now have a chance to order specific tickets.  Since we also assumed  that demand will outweigh the available allocation of tickets, we will perform a ballot on January 31, 2006 of all orders received.

 There is no fairer way of distributing the tickets than by drawing lots," Horst Schmidt explained in the release.Except for the Opening Match, tickets will be available for all games, including Germany’s games, the semi-finals and Final.

 “Of course, the availability for these games as well as for those involving teams considered to be more attractive will be relatively much smaller,” continued Schmidt.

Compared with the first two sales periods, in which more than 80 percent of orders came from Europe, with 90 percent of those from Germany, the Organizing Committee is expecting a noticeable rise in orders from abroad.

"We can feel the interest from participating teams and from neighbouring countries increasing enormously,” continued Schmidt. “We will thus be catering more to these international wishes and interests."

100,000 tickets in the third sales period have come from the Hospitality Programme. Added to these are returns from sponsors as well as national associations from the first two sales periods.

Further blocks have also been released from safety reserve seats. For your bookings and that is if you are interested, see: www.FIFAworldcup.com