Olympic football ‘a tough ticket to sell’

The London Organising Committee of the 2012 Olympics (LOCOG) has confirmed the details for the sale of contingency tickets for the Olympic Games.

Tickets will be sold on a first come, first served basis exclusively to the 1 million or so people who applied in previous rounds of Olympic ticket sales and were not successful in securing a ticket.

Tickets for all events apart from Olympic Park tickets will be available exclusively to the 20,000 people who were unsuccessful in the initial Olympic ballot application. Limited tickets for opening and closing ceremonies will be included.

It follows complaints from sports fans after many missed out in what was been branded a “ridiculous” ballot system, while others ended up with more tickets than they could afford.

During the first ticket ballot there was over-subscriptions for more than 50 per cent of the 650 sessions.

Tough sell

But ticket sales for the football tournaments have been a disappointment, and with millions up for grabs, they are proving particularly difficult to shift.

LOCOG has said that 141,000 tickets were sold last week when tickets went back on sale. They have approximately 1.4m left, with the possibility of some contingency tickets to come.

Team GB’s games have been selling better, with few tickets remaining for the home team’s games at Old Trafford and Wembley Stadium.

Joe Cohen, CEO of Seatwave, says he suspects there will be a lot of empty seats. “There are a lot of football and there are a lot of matches for countries that no one around here has an interest in… It is a tough ticket to sell.”

Michael Brunskill, from the Football Supporters Federation, said that not a lot of fans have been contacting the organisation about the Olympics. He said he suspects that there is not a great deal of interest because traditionally, Great Britain has not entered a team in the Olympics.

“Although we have got a team this time, to go from zero to 100 in terms of support is very difficult, particularly with the Euros coming up.”

Mr Brunskill added that Argentina and Brazil take the tournament more seriously.

“Brazil has never won an Olympic hold medal and there it is looked at as a very big thing.”

He added the tournament was an opportunity for fans that are over familiar with European-based players to see fresh talent including the Brazillian player Neymar, who rarely plays in Europe.

Louis Massarella, commissioning editor of the football magazine FourFourTwo, said the enthusiasm for the Olympic football tournament varies from country to country. “In Brazil, because you are two years out from the World Cup it is seen as a prestigious tournament, perhaps second to the World Cup.

‘Token gesture’

“Some countries do not take it seriously including European countries. who have the Euros this summer.”

But he said Great Britain’s lack of a history in the tournament makes entering this year seem like “a token gesture”.

Mr Massarella adds that the tournament was also devalued the the eyes of home fans by a deal with the FA preventing England players going to both the Euros and the Olympics.”

Unlike the men’s team who can only include under-23 players and two over-age players in the squad Great Britain’s women’s squad can select players of all ages. There is also a greater prestige attached to the women’s Olympic football tournament.

A spokesperson for the FA said: “Historically, it is fair to say that the women’s tournament has been treated almost as the pinnacle of the sport. Our women’s team would tell you that it is huge in terms of the international game.”