World soccer governing body FIFA is facing a backlash on social media from fans who bought multiple tickets for next month’s Women’s World Cup in Lyon, France, only to discover that their seats were not together.
Supporters with tickets for the June 7 to July 7 showpiece were on Monday allowed to download and print them, but a number of parents have since complained that seats have been allocated in such a way that they cannot sit with their children.
Organizers initially released a statement saying that they could not change seat allocations except for parents with children younger than 18 who were not seated together.
In a subsequent statement, organizers said that less than 1 percent of fans with tickets for the semi-finals and final were facing seat allocation issues.
“The previous tweets regarding FIFA Women’s World Cup tickets allocation were published without a full understanding of the situation and we apologise for that,” the organizers said on Twitter.
“The issues were faced by less than 1% of fans requesting tickets for the semi-finals and the final. FIFA and the local organising committee are confident the problems will be solved and fans will be able to enjoy the matches as they envisaged,” they added.
The assurances did not calm supporters on social media, who suggested that the problem was far more widespread and demanded that organizers resolve the issue.
“How will [the problems] be solved? Me and my daughters aged 11 and 13 have tickets that are not together, so will not be able to attend,” one person said on Twitter.
“This was to be a family trip and we can’t even sit together as a family,” another person said on Twitter. “What a disappointment. Not a happy customer.”
FIFA released a statement later on Tuesday saying that it was still working on a solution.
“FIFA and the local organizing committee are ... doing everything they can to ensure that families will always be seated together at each and every match,” it said. “Of the 1.3 million tickets on sale for the tournament, it is estimated that not having side-by-side seats will affect only a very small number of fans.”
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