Sponsors of World Cup return tickets

Sponsors of the World Cup failed to take up as many as 1 lakh tickets reserved for them, according to FIFA’s head of marketing Thierry Weil.

Sponsors had come under fire during previous events, including the last World Cup in South Africa and the London 2012 Olympics, after broadcasts showed banks of empty seats at events and games that were sold out for the general public.

FIFA has now changed the way it issues tickets to its commercial partners, asking them to confirm demand for tickets five months before the start of the tournament and reconfirm demand ahead of individual matches.

“We reserved some tickets for them in January 2014,” Weil said in an interview in Sao Paulo. “They buy what they need and the rest that we received is injected back into general sale. It was about 1,00,000 tickets.”