It looks like we’re definitely headed to Germany next summer for the World Cup. My wife had submitted a request in mid-March for tickets for the first round matches in which the US would be playing. We’re willing to go ahead and buy the tickets, even in the unlikely event that they wouldn’t qualify. Given that at least three CONCACAF teams will qualify, the odds are very good that the US will make it through.
FIFA received over 12 million ticket requests for the first draw. After they uncovered a fraudulent attempt by scalpers to purchase tickets, that number was reduced to just under 9 million ticket requests. Still, since there were only 812,000 tickets available for this draw, we were worried that we wouldn’t get selected. The odds of success ended up being 1 in 4.3, since many people were requesting multiple tickets. The draw was held April 15, but the notifications weren’t supposed to go out until the 22nd.
Thursday afternoon, Sandra called the bank that issued the credit card she had used for the order and asked them about any recent charges. I don’t think she’s ever been so pleased to discover such a large charge against our account. Although we haven’t received an official acknowledgment from FIFA yet, the fact that they charged our credit card for the expected amount is pretty good evidence that our luck held out. On the main soccer discussion forums that she frequents, lots of other people have reported already receiving rejection emails.
The ticket series for 13 teams, including the US, have already sold out. After Germany and Great Britain, the US had the third highest total of ticket requests submitted. 72% of the valid applications originated in Germany.
Although there is a common misconception that soccer is not popular in the US, it’s actually hugely popular here. However, a large number of the fans are recent immigrants, and many of them remain more loyal to the national and club teams in the countries from which they emigrated. In most other countries, you don’t get such a wide, and large, mix of nationalities. When the US national team plays a match in the US against virtually any other country, the visiting team is usually supported by a large number of fans, most of whom presumably live here. When I saw the US play the tiny country of Wales in San Jose, even the Welsh managed to attract a large number of their supporters to the game. Because of the number and variety of immigrants that continue to come here, it’s likely that the US team will continue to play quite a few matches in the US where they are effectively not the home team.
Update 4/22/05 9:30 am: Sehr gut! The confirmation email arrived at 1 am this morning!