Fifa World Cup: China ‘needs to protect IP’ if it hopes to host the finals, says official tickets right holder
Larry Zheng of Shankai Sports says the country needs to crack down to realise Xi Jinping’s dream of staging the tournament
Almost 3,500 fans were sold tickets by Chinese travel agencies only to be told they were not valid just days before the competition started.
Despite notifications being sent by the Chinese embassy to followers on WeChat, more than 30 fans were reported to have been turned away from the group stage game between Argentina and Iceland at Spartak Stadium in Moscow after their tickets turned out to be counterfeit.
Larry Zheng, vice-president of Shankai Sports which holds the exclusive rights to sell World Cup hospitality packages into China on Fifa’s behalf, said this was an issue authorities must tackle if the country was serious about realising President Xi Jinping’s ambition of one day hosting the game’s greatest event.
Moves to protect the marques associated with the Olympic Games have already been made ahead of Beijing’s hosting of the Winter Olympics in 2022 and Zheng believes now is the time to do something similar to safeguard the World Cup’s status in China.