The vice chairman of the Argentine Football Association (AFA), Luis Segura, on Tuesday admitted selling World Cup tickets, but denied scalping.
His comments came amid a scandal over the dismantling in Brazil of a scalping network blamed for fraud worth tens of millions of dollars.
Brazil is questioning 11 suspects in connection with the case, including a British ticketing executive who is a director of FIFA partner Match Services.
Referring to passing on FIFA tickets allocated to the AFA, Segura told Del Plata radio station: “I made a serious mistake and I regret it.”
He explained he had passed on a number of tickets which FIFA allocates to national federations.
“What I did from my modest position was sell [at face value] to people who were traveling to Brazil without tickets and we tried to solve this problem for the people” concerned, Segura said.
FIFA stipulates that ticket holders may not sell on tickets or transfer them to another person without written consent from world soccer’s governing body.
Asked for further information on the sale of the tickets, Segura said the recipients of the tickets concerned where “people known” to the AFA.
“I can’t come out and announce I had tickets, so we tried to sell those which were left over to known people,” he said. “About 400 people were asking for tickets — some nicely and others with insults, [but] if you have the chance to resolve 100 people’s problems, then you do so.”
AFA ticketing administration head Emiliano Vazquez also denied wrongdoing.
“Nobody has made a complaint. A video in Brazil shows AFA people coming in and charging for a ticket, and this is logical because the FIFA tickets have a cost,” Vazquez said.
He added that 175 tickets were left over from the AFA’s allocation for the final and the association sold them “to recoup the money,” but he insisted that none was sold for above face value.
About 100,000 Argentines traveled to Rio de Janeiro for the final — most without tickets.
On July 4, Humberto Grondona, son of FIFA vice president and AFA president Julio Grondona, denied any AFA involvement in the scalping network.
Speaking in Brazil, Humberto Grondona said he had given “some” tickets to a friend who wanted to attend the tournament.
“He in turn gave tickets to another friend. What did they do with the tickets? That I don’t know,” he said.
Pictures emerged during the event of a ticket for Argentina’s match with Switzerland bearing the name “Humberto Mario Grondona.” The ticket ended up in the hands of a friend of a journalist, who paid double the original price.
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