More comparisons made between the Olympics and professional football

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Critics say that football, with its millionaire players and age restrictions, does not sit well with the ideals of the Olympic Games. Also being criticised is the fact that the World Cup was so much bigger than the Olympic tournament.

However FIFA, the governing body of world football, have issued positive figures claiming that after the men’s quarter finals had been played, 1,230,818 spectators would have watched the 28 matches.

The average attendance at the matches has been 43,958, which is higher than at Beijing’s Olympics and only slightly behind Los Angeles’ average of 44,488. Huge crowds are expected at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Old Trafford in Manchester and Wembley Stadium in London which will increase the average – also the funds which go to the organisers of the London Games

The women’s tournament has so far attracted an attendance of 480,206, with four more matches (Coventry, Old Trafford and two at Wembley) to go. Tuesday’s Wembley match between Team GB and Brazil enjoyed an attendance of 70,584 – a new high for a women’s match in Britain.

Sepp Blatter, FIFA president and member of the IOC is said to be delighted Britain’s response to football’s relationship with the Games. He added that the stadiums are wonderful and he feels privileged to be here.

Brazil’s 1994 manager, Carlos Alberto Parreira, (manager when Brazil won the 1994 World Cup final) who is on FIFA’S Technical Delegation for the Olympics, concurs with the view. He says that there has been a fantastic spirit of fair play and fabulous stadiums. He went on to say that all the facilities have been tremendous; with players enjoying them they will never forget their visit.

Mr Parreira says that football should definitely remain an Olympic sport, when 81,000 spectators watched Mexico v Senegal.

 

Olympic football matches fail to excite fans as 1m tickets remain unsold

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The take-up for the Olympic football tournament has been so negative that half a million tickets are to be withdrawn from sale. Organisers admitted that with only a week before the start of the Games many matches outside London will have empty seats. Tickets at Cardiff and Glasgow have been particularly difficult to sell.

The surprise announcement came only one day after the captain of the men’s team, Ryan Giggs, enthused about being part of the event and said he hoped there would be lots of supporters. The matches that involve the British team have sold well, however games in the other venues around the country are struggling to attract a crowd.

With a million football tickets left unsold, Locog, the London organising committee, took the decision to halve the number remaining and close off parts of the stadiums. In Cardiff, the 74,500-capacity Millennium Stadium is expected to have its top tier closed for most matches apart from when Britain’s men play Uruguay. Locog still faces a race against time to sell the 450,000 that remain available – around 200,000 of those are returns from National Olympic Committees.

Locog insists it is “delighted” with sales for the football competition, saying that with 1.6 million already sold that is more than at Euro 2012. They also point out sales of women’s matches far outweighs anything previously seen in this country. For Hope Powell’s side’s first game in Cardiff against New Zealand on Wednesday – two days before the opening ceremony – 37,000 fans are expected. The women’s English cup final at the Emirates drew around 5,000 this season.

Sales in Glasgow, which will host eight games at Hampden Park, are believed to have been particularly sluggish, with around 80,000 of the 250,000 originally put on sale gone. Spain against Japan is the pick of the games in Glasgow – Egypt against Belarus is somewhat less attractive. Adult tickets for matches cost between £20 and £40.

It is in Glasgow that the greatest number of tickets – some 50,000 – has been distributed free to schools and youth groups through the Ticketshare scheme. In all, 200,000 tickets across all Olympic sports have been given out in this manner. Ticketshare is funded via sales of hospitality tickets and packages for the Games – so allowing organisers to give them out for free.

Delay in Olympic match tickets frustrates fans

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The organisers of the Olympic Games which are taking place this summer have still not announced when the remaining tickets for football matches at the games are going to go on sale. The reason for the delay is because the online systems are still being tested to make sure that they will function properly.

Football is not the only sport that has seen a delay in the release of tickets and the tickets were supposed to go on sale earlier this month however, they have been pushed back until the start of next month. A spokesperson representing the games has stated that the system is going to be back online shortly and all the technical problems should have been resolved.

The original site responsible for selling the tickets experienced an enormous amount of demand which caused it to crash. The spokesperson stated in an interview with the BBC, “Before we put these tickets on sale we want to make sure that the system is working as well as possible. It is essential that we do the appropriate testing so it doesn’t crash again when it starts up.”

The chairman of Locog has stated, “We don’t want to push the release of the tickets forward unnecessarily. It is best to be absolutely sure about systems before we release the tickets and this is what we’re doing. We are also currently working on finalising the seating plans for the venue and this is also pushing back the release of the final batch of tickets a little.”

Fans asked to name Olympic football

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Fans asked to name Olympic football Occasionally customers are asked to assist in creating new products for brands. Normally they might help make commercials, the designs of either packaging or clothing, or even flavours. However, the names are kept close to the creative team for the brand.

Now, however, football lovers have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to give the name to the London 2012 official Olympic matchball, thanks to Adidas of UK. This is a huge risk for Adidas, since the ball will go down in history connected with the Olympic Games.

Adidas, as the official sportswear provider for the Olympic Games, hosted in London, designed the ball, but is will not be made public until Spring 2012. The renaming of the ball is open to UK residents over 13. They should give their version of the name at the page for the contest on Adidas’ website. The prize is a pair of tickets to the UEFA 2011 Wembley Championship League Finals, in addition to the ball with the signature of the winner. The winner will also receive a request to be part of the launch of the ball.

You may make your suggestions for the ball’s name until 28 February. The winner will receive an email letting them know of their win by the end of April this year.