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World Cup Tickets for the Well-Heeled

Mario Quadt (ncy)March 13, 2006

For those who have everything but soccer World Cup tickets, DW-WORLD might have the answer -- assuming money's no object.

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VIP view: Lounge at Dortmund's WestfalenstadionImage: picture-alliance/dpa

International Sports Entertainment (iSe) is the place to contact for access to the best tickets in Germany's World Cup stadiums. Obviously, the ticket packages, which are oriented towards companies and wealthy fans, don't come cheap.

To watch four group matches, a quarter-final and the final in Berlin in the very best seats, so-called Sky Boxes, which seat 10 to 20 people, you would have to pay between 156,000 and 336,000 euros ($185,700 to $400,000). Those who manage to get their hands on a highly sought-after hospitality package can watch three games for only 1,900 euros.

But you'd better hurry, because even those tickets are running out.

ISe paid world soccer federation FIFA 175.5 million euros for the right to sell the 346,000 VIP tickets for boxes and business seats in the 12 arenas where World Cup will take place this summer. Experts estimate that VIP seats will bring in around 500 million euros.

Those who pay top dollar -- or euro -- for the very best will be pampered with reserved parking right next to the stadium. Meanwhile, normal ticket holders will have at least three kilometers (1.9 miles) to cover, either by foot or public transportation, to get to their seats.


Making memories

Vip-Loge des Leipziger Zentralstadions, Fußball
VIP lounge at Leipzig's ZentralstadionImage: picture-alliance/dpa


Well-heeled fans will also have their own entrance to ensure they make it into the VIP area as smoothly as possible. Once they're in, they'll already be able to eat, drink and make merry two hours before kick-off in specially constructed hospitality tents, said Peter Csanadi, a spokesman for iSe.

They'll have the privilege of full catering during half time as well as after the game. Around 10,000 waiters and waitresses will be on hand to serve the 346,000 customers, and 8,000 hostesses will be at their beck and call.

But hospitality tent may be the wrong description for the places where the VIPs will while away their time, said Stefan Bartosch, managing director of De Boer, the company that is making the constructions for the 12 stadiums.

"We're building temporary rooms," Bartosch said. The tents are more like small cities. "This city will be many 10,000 square meters (hundreds of thousands of square feet) in size, with its own kitchens, living rooms, with deck chairs, terraces, with everything you can imagine."

And beyond providing wealthy customers with their money's worth, the luxurious treatment has another aim.

"The point is that the guest remembers that he was invited by a particular company who gave him this fantastic opportunity to watch a match," Bartosch said.