DALLAS (AP) – The FIFA World Cup’s chief operating officer says the tournament is “too big” to be postponed because of the global turmoil caused by the United States and Israel’s war against Iran.
Speaking on Monday at the International Broadcast Center for the 48-nation tournament, which begins on June 11, Heimo Sirgi said FIFA continues to monitor the competition closely. iran war And the aftermath.
“If I had a crystal ball I could tell you right now what would happen, but clearly the situation is evolving. The situation is changing daily and we are monitoring it closely,” Silgi said. We’re working with all of our federal partners and international partners to assess the situation and we’re basically taking it day by day and we’re going to get a resolution at some stage. And of course the World Cup will be held, right? The World Cup is so big that we hope everyone who qualifies can participate. ”
of tournamentwill expand from 32 to 48 countries and will be held at 11 venues in the United States, three in Mexico, and two in Canada. The Trump administration has placed travel bans on the four countries that qualified for the tournament: Iran, Ivory Coast, Haiti and Senegal, but has said there will be exceptions for players, team personnel and their immediate families.
Shirgi said FIFA is in constant contact with the Iranian Football Federation for updates, but would not reveal details of those conversations.
FIFA officials were in Dallas to announce plans for the city’s 34-day fan festival during the World Cup and to tour the construction site for a broadcast hub at the downtown convention center, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from AT&T Stadium, home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, where nine games will be played.
“Given today’s world situation, this will be a great opportunity to bring everyone together,” Silgi said. “For those of you who have never experienced the World Cup, the World Cup is very special because it is truly global and it brings everyone together. We saw it in Qatar, we saw it in Russia, we saw it everywhere. People were amazed at how international this whole thing was.”
Sirzi also mentioned FIFA’s surprise decision last month to add a 48-hour grace period to ticket sales. FIFA has been criticized ticket price Category 1 seats cost up to $8,680 and top out in the lower bowls, while Category 2 seats cost $5,575 and Category 3 seats cost $4,185. Ticket prices for the first round are $2,735 for Category 1, $1,940 for Category 2, and $1,120 for Category 3.
“This was basically giving fans who applied for a ticket in their category and didn’t win the opportunity to be offered a ticket in another category,” Silgi said. “So, if someone applied for a Category 3 ticket for a particular game and they couldn’t get it because they didn’t have enough Category 3 tickets, we offered it to those people because they applied early. Instead of having a Category 3 ticket, we said we wanted a Category 2 ticket.”
After criticism, FIFA announced in December that it was selling hundreds of $60 tickets. They are sold to the tournament’s 48 national federations after every match, and to fans who attend regularly.
___
AP Soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
