FIFA said that confusion over tickets for the '19 Women's World Cup in France "stems from foreigners not understanding the nuances of ticketing procedures used in Europe," according to Laine Higgins of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. France World Cup Organizing Committee Dir Erwan Le Prevost said, "This is not a technical issue. It's the normal way to seat tickets when we are sold out." Le Prevost said that fans who "purchased tickets for high-demand matches, like the semifinals and finals, should have gotten a pop-up message that indicated their tickets may not be located together." FIFA has "not clarified how seats for each price category were allocated and has not said whether there were ticketing issues for other sold-out games." The one detail FIFA has provided is that "less than 1%" of the 57,000 tickets purchased for each of the semifinal matches and the finals in Lyon "are not located side-by-side." Le Prevost said that FIFA has "set aside 'more than 100 tickets' for reseating parents with their children at each match." It is "unclear if that is enough" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 5/23). The AP's Anne Peterson noted FIFA has said that it was "working toward a solution with the local organizing committee in France." The ticket situation "could cause problems in the stadiums before games, when fans may try to swap seats to sit next to friends or family members" (AP, 5/21).
