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State-run China International Sports Travel, which holds the exclusive rights to sell some 10,700 tickets allotted by world body FIFA, could not confirm the reports of additional tickets.
'FIFA would have to approve it first,' said spokesman Yuan Xiaoge.
But Yuan would not rule out the possibility more tickets for China's three opening round matches would become available through official mainland channels.
'After all, Chinese demand for those tickets should far outstrip South Koreans" he told Reuters.
Ticket prices for China's matches have already surged to as much as 15 times their face value among scalpers in South Korea, the Beijing Youth Daily said on Saturday.
The mainland's monopoly was aimed at ensuring price gouging does not occur in China, Yuan said.
HIGH DEMAND
The state-backed sports unit, which has gone into partnership with a mainland subsidiary of China Travel International Investment Hong Kong, has enjoyed high demand for travel packages ranging from 7,000 yuan to 27,000 yuan, including Cup tickets costing $60, $100 or $150 apiece, said Yuan.
He said the unpopularly hefty package prices were to be blamed on the inflated costs of hotels, air tickets and ground transportation during the World Cup -- not his company's monopoly.
But China's predominately blue-collar soccer aficionados are not ready to lay the issue to rest.
'Their prices clearly do not fall within the affordable range of ordinary, wage-earning fans,' the paper quoted Wang Wenxi of the unofficial China Union of Soccer Fan Clubs, as saying. |
Soccer Media
