Legal action threatened over tickets

Even Japan's first match had a sea of empty seats

Korean World Cup organisers are considering legal action as a consequence of the problems with ticket availability in Japan and South Korea.

The Korean and Japanese governments have been embarrassed by the sight of thousands of empty seats at some games in the tournament.

Loss of face is a serious problem in both countries.

Crisis? What crisis?

Fifa spokesman

An investigation is being launched into the issue, according to a spokesman for the Korean Organising Committee (Kowoc)

He said: "The Korean government saw the pictures on the television and vacant seats in Busan and Gwangju were not good.

"They have expressed their deep concern about the situation.

"Based on the outcome of an investigation, Kowoc will consider various measures to be taken and may if necessary include some kind of legal actions."

The spokesman declined to say if the suit would be against Fifa or Byrom, the British-based company charged with selling 1.5m tickets set aside for sales outside South Korea and Japan.

In Japan, a telephone hotline is to be opened to help fans who have been unable to apply for tickets on the website fifatickets.com, which has experienced problems due to demand.

But Keith Cooper - communications director of football's governing body, Fifa - said there was not a serious problem with regard to tickets.

Thousands of fans queue for tickets in Busan

"Crisis? What crisis?" he said. "Generally, the tournament is going extraordinary well and we are very happy with the situation."

The row over tickets has been rumbling since before the tournament started.

The first indications of a problem came when fans failed to receive in the post the tickets they had ordered.

Fifa has already launched an investigation into why there were around 3,500 vacant spaces at Friday's opening match in Seoul when Senegal beat defending champions France 1-0.

There were also thousands of empty seats in the Sapporo stadium in Japan when Germany beat Saudi Arabia 8-0 on Saturday, and again when Italy beat Ecuador 2-0 on Monday.

In Korea there have also been poor crowds, which Kowoc officials have attributed to poor international sales.

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But there have also been problems with games involving the host nations.

Some 3,000 unsold tickets for South Korea's first World Cup match on Tuesday also went on sale just hours ahead of the game.

Thousands of fans lined up at the stadium's ticket booth in the southern city of Pusan to snap up the remaining tickets for Korea's game against Poland.

On Sunday, Fifa started offering tickets for sale via the internet for matches that Japanese organisers said had been sold out.

But the computer server for Fifa's website was unable to handle the demand from fans, causing tens of thousands of seats to be left empty.

Blaming each other

That prompted Fifa to hold an emergency meeting with organisers from both host countries.

South Korean government spokesman Shin Jung-Sik said the huge numbers of empty seats at the World Cup matches held so far was discussed at a cabinet meeting on Monday.

He said losses of up to $800,000 (£550,280) per match had been suffered by the Kowoc.

Fifa has blamed the co-hosts South Korea and Japan for failing to implement a joint policy on administering tickets.

Some fans in Japan are finding that they have to travel hundreds of miles to pick up tickets from designated centres, discouraging locals from making the effort to attend games.

Fifa officials admit their determination to keep tickets away from the touts has led to delays in real fans getting their tickets.