Football fans left offside in rush for World Cup tickets

South Korean electronics giant LG Group last week launched a nationwide competition to pick a nickname, slogan and the best cheerleaders for China's soccer team, offering as prizes 10 precious tickets to see their side perform in the World Cup.

But the offer will do little to assuage dissatisfaction among the tens of thousands of fans unable to secure tickets. Chinese fans have been allocated only 10,749 tickets, which they say are too expensive.

According to the Beijing Evening News, the cost of a US$60 (HK$465) ticket for one of China's three games in its qualifying group has already reached US$800 on the black market.

It was with an eye for the hunger to get tickets that LG launched its competition, at a boisterous ceremony at a luxury hotel complete with dry-ice smoke and dancing girls.

The competition for the nickname and slogan runs until March 28. It offers a single ticket for the winner and 32 televisions, DVDs and microwave ovens for the next best.

The top nine cheerleaders, to be announced on April 3, will receive tickets to see the Chinese team at the World Cup.

Ordinary Chinese who want to go have to book through two designated companies, the China International Sports and Travel Company and China International Travel Service. By January 31, applicants had come from all over China, except Tibet, and far exceeded the 10,749.