Caborn calls for bigger World Cup allocation for England
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The Football Association will be allocated just eight per cent of tickets for any England match to distribute to its official supporters' club, leading to concerns that fans will seek to buy others on the black market.
Caborn said yesterday: "I have had a lot of representations about England fans not being able to get tickets. We are likely to have the largest following of all the teams travelling to Germany, with 25,000 members of the England supporters' club and only eight per cent of each stadium set aside for England fans, so obviously a lot are going to miss out.
"Our supporters showed both in Japan and Portugal they can enjoy themselves without causing trouble and I think it is important that as many real fans as possible get the chance to see England play in the World Cup when it is so close to home. I am going to write to Sepp Blatter at Fifa and see if there's any possibility they can raise the percentage of tickets available to England supporters."
The actual amount of tickets per match is not yet known - the draw, schedule and venues are to be confirmed in December, after which it will be deermined how many members of the official supporters' club can attend.
The FA has also written to Fifa, stating that it will be willing to take any additional tickets for England matches if they are drawn against a country with few travelling supporters.
The FA and the Football Supporters' Federation have warned fans not to buy tickets from black market sources.
Fifa reiterated this week that, for the first time, there would be random identity checks at all World Cup venues in Germany next summer and anyone found with a ticket who did not correspond to their passport or ID card would be refused entry.
A variety of agencies, in Europe and the United States, is offering guaranteed pre-sales of tickets. However, the tournament organisers insist that any tickets bought through such agencies cannot be correctly identified with an individual, and will be invalid if spotted.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments