Blatter slams World Cup ticketing

Blatter is frustrated at dealings over ticket sales

Fifa president Sepp Blatter has criticised the ticketing arrangements for this summer's World Cup in Germany.

The handling of sales by the German Football Association has frustrated Blatter, who wants Fifa to take control for the 2010 finals in South Africa.

"The Germans have chosen a system that I don't understand at all," he told Swiss newspaper NZZ am Sonntag.

"I don't know how many meetings we've had about it. We're just not making any progress with the German FA."

He added: "I don't understand it. I distanced myself from it from the start but in the end I'm guilty anyway. In South Africa 2010 we'll take over the ticketing again."

The 3.3 million tickets are embedded with microchips and issued to individuals, who will face recognition scanners at the stadiums' turnstiles.

And, while Blatter thinks the system is too intricate, organisers say it is for security reasons.

The idea is to eliminate stolen or counterfeit tickets as well as keeping ticket brokers or others from inflating the price.

"In Germany they have to really try if they want to recreate what happened in 2002 in South Korea or in 1998 in France," said Blatter.

"They have to prove that the World Cup will be as good as the expectations."