FIFA Fears Ticket Problems at World Cup

A month before Germany opens the World Cup against Costa Rica on June 9, FIFA president Sepp Blatter says organizers are struggling to find solutions to a ticketing problem that could lead to violence outside stadiums and thousands of empty seats inside.

German tournament officials insist that each of the 3 million tickets issued for the 64 games must have the owner's name on it and that the ticket-holder's identity must be confirmed by personal identification. FIFA fears that could lead to long lines of frustrated fans waiting to get into the stadiums and little chance of people giving tickets to friends and family.

"The German organizers are in the very uncomfortable situation and, if the German organizers are uncomfortable, then FIFA is also uncomfortable," Blatter said. "They have weeks to solve this problem, and this is clearly a German problem."

Blatter spoke with German organizing head Franz Beckenbauer on Friday and plans to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

"These are measures taken by a German government who will make sure that the World Cup is safe," he said. "Even she won't be able to change anything. We can only put a question mark, `How will it work?' They have already said they will have turnstiles and will have another one outside for those who are not identified to make them identified."

All 64 games are sold out for the 32-nation tournament, which runs through July 9. The United States opens June 12 against the Czech Republic.

"The pressure just won't go away," organizing committee vice president Wolfgang Niersbach said. "We have 3 million tickets we need 30 million."

At the 12 venues, organizers say the leaking roof at Frankfurt's Commerzbank-Arena and a broken awning at Kaiserslautern's Fritz-Walter Stadium have been repaired.

"We are doing the fine-tuning now. We feel so confident we can say we will offer the best stadiums in the world," said Jens Grittner, a spokesman for the German organizers.

The German effort to mount a perfect World Cup once led FIFA general secretary Urs Linsi to tell them to "relax."