FIFA spokesman Andreas Henner said the situation was very much under control. The printing has not been a problem, it has been demand for tickets in some areas, he added.

Henner said that ticket demand in South Korea had not been as high as in Japan, which has led to some empty seats at matches. A FIFA ticketing website has also been unable to
cope with demand.

Even for the England game there were 1,500 empty seats for a variety of reasons, including security, and the fact that the FA also returned some tickets, said Henner.

The handling of tickets has been the responsibility of the FIFA World Cup Ticketing Bureau, one of two World Cup 2002 operations set up and owned by Manchester-based Byrom Inc. Printing has been handled by an as yet unnamed UK-based printer.

The Bureau had earlier been blamed for the late distribution of 144,000 tickets for Japanese residents, and also for delays in England fans receiving their tickets. It attributed the problems to a delay in information details being sent from the relevant authorities.

Each of the tournaments tickets was printed with the fans name to prevent them ending up on the black market.

As PrintWeek went to press Byrom was unavailable for comment.
Story by Andy Scott