Fans warned over 2010 ticket ripoffs

Football bosses are urging fans not to rush into buying tickets for June's World Cup finals in South Africa, pledging there will be plenty available and warning them to be cautious of unlicensed package tours.

New Zealand Football say they will be granted 12% of all tickets for each of the All Whites pool games. Venues for their matches won't be known until the draw is held in 13 days time, but the smallest stadium earmarked for the group stages is the 40,000 Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit, while the largest is Soccer City in Johannesburg, which accomodates 94,000 fans.

"I would urge caution," said NZ Football chairman Frank van Hattum. "There are a number of travel agents already offering packages and people need to be clear whether they are officially endorsed.

"We don't know all the answers but we do know there is no shortage of tickets for New Zealand. People shouldn't rush into things, there is always a mad scramble but tickets will be available."

It's likely most tickets will be sold as part of corporate and tour packages, but some will be available on a ticket-only basis to Kiwi fans. World governing body Fifa, who will hold a seminar in England next week with competing teams over the ticketing process, will allow NZ Football to decide how it wants to sell its ticket allocation.

Fans wanting more immediate access to the All Whites after last week's success over Bahrain will be disappointed. The team won't play until 2010. Even then, there's no guarantee of a game on home soil before the World Cup – and if the All Whites do get a friendly, player release rules mean they won't be able to field European stars such as skipper Ryan Nelsen.

The Star-Times can also reveal there's no chance of a mooted friendly with the Australian Socceroos happening before the World Cup.

The Australians have a full schedule and turned down the chance of meeting the All Whites, for now, but Van Hattum joked: "You can't keep hiding, chaps!"

In an extensive interview with the Star-Times, van Hattum and NZ Football chief executive Michael Glading also revealed the organisation won't blow its share of an expected $10 million windfall from competing in the finals, planning to bank it and "live off" the interest.

And they've also set an ambitious target of New Zealand winning at least one match in the finals – despite being ranked just 77th in the world.

"It is different to '82, when we trained the public to expect, and accept, that going to the World Cup was our World Cup," van Hattum said. "We lost every game, came back as heroes and 28 years later, they still think we are fantastic.

A win, he said, "will take off some of the heat in terms of credibility and the political issues and show we deserve to be there."

- © Fairfax NZ News