The Observer's Sport section has kick-started a campaign aimed at exposing the great World Cup ticket scandal. We're putting pressure on Fifa - football's world governing body - into making far more tickets for the world's biggest sporting event available to ordinary fans, writes Denis Campbell.
We believe it is scandalously unfair that one in six of the 3.1m tickets for this summer's World Cup have been allocated to the tournament's 15 sponsors, such as Coca-Cola and McDonald's, 11.3% are available to those able to shell out exorbitant sums for an official hospitality package, but a paltry 8% goes to fans of each of the two teams on the pitch in any match.
Fifa has got its priorities seriously wrong. Many thousands of loyal England fans are missing out on tickets simply because the Football Association's allocation from Fifa was so derisory. (14,148 spread over England's three games in Group B to divide between the 25,000 members of their official supporters club).
Large-scale commercial sponsorship has been a key part of the sporting landscape for years; and most supporters know that sponsorship deals help keep ticket prices lower than they might otherwise be for ordinary fans. But no sponsor needs 25,000 tickets for the 64 games at the World Cup (385 seats at each of the matches).
Some of these companies have told us they would still sponsor the World Cup even if they got fewer tickets. Fifa should dramatically reduce the sponsorship allocation, and increase the number available for fans, the lifeblood of the game, the suppliers of its atmosphere and, in a way, its entire purpose.
Fifa, the supposed custodian of the traditions and values of 'the people's game', is alienating fans worldwide by pursuing such inequitable ticketing policies. Change is urgently needed, and only pressure by fans and the media will help achieve that. You can, of course, let us know your thoughts below, and sign the fans' petition at www.footballsupportersinternational.com.
