Confed tickets available via phone

By Siyabonga Africa, ITWeb junior journalist

Johannesburg, 11 May 2009

Fifa has opened a call centre service to speed up the sale of tickets for the Fifa Confederations Cup (FCC), which kicks off next month.

The soccer organisation has stated in media reports that there are still more than 290 000 tickets up for grabs for the FCC, which is seen as a precursor to the World Cup next year.

"Opening up the call centre was part of the decision to simplify the process for the FCC tickets as an additional service, as well as providing a servicing centre for enquiries related to ticketing," said Fifa spokesperson Delia Fischer.

People will also be able to check ticket availability before going to a ticketing centre directly to buy a ticket, follow-up on a purchase and gather information on collection points, Fischer added.

The call centre is being run by Fifa`s ticketing partner, Match Event Services, a subsidiary of Zurich-based Match Services, which provides Fifa with ticketing, accommodation and event IT services.

"The call centre solution is scalable and, subject to demand, the number of agents processing can be increased or decreased," explained Fischer.

Ticketing woes

The soccer organisation has recently been embroiled in an online ticketing scandal, after sources within Fifa revealed a number of complaints and concerns raised by people seeking to buy tickets.

An insider revealed that Fifa had received a number of angry calls from people complaining the system didn`t reflect that their transaction had been completed, even though money was deducted from their accounts.

Fischer categorically denied these claims and said, in general, the system was running smoothly. Fifa spokesperson Wolfgang Eichler said there had been no recorded incidence of credit card fraud either.

"People apply, they provide their payment card details to effect payment in the event that they are successful. Once they have successfully secured their tickets, we naturally proceed to charge them against their credit cards."