Sales and issuance of World Cup tickets are causing confusion due to deficient task management of the ticket sales agencies it was reported Thursday. Among the 700,000 or so tickets that were supposed to arrive from distributor Byrom last April 28, 100,000 hadn't arrived by May 23. Also, among the tickets already distributed, many reservations for adjacent seats were placed far apart, causing discontent among those who made reservations.

Last May 23, The Korean World Cup Organizing Committee (KOWOC) said 100,000 tickets that were supposed to be distributed to disabled persons, sponsors, hosting cities and the football association haven't arrived yet, adding FIFA had said it would send them by May 24, but it was unsure whether this promise would be kept.

KOWOC said that Byrom, the ticket sales distributor designated by FIFA, has little experience and as such encountered printing delays and computer problems. Byrom, which has its headquarters in Manchester, England, is an accommodation agency with 20 or so employees and this is the first time it has dealt with ticket reservations, KOWOC added.

According to KOWOC, tickets that were supposed to arrive on April 28 arrived on the 12th, 15th, and 17th of May in batches of 200,000. These tickets were for regular seats and therefore, ticket distribution that was supposed take place on May 6 was delayed for 20 days.

However, 2,297 tickets for disabled persons, 38,000 for sponsors and their employees, 19,000 for host cities and self-governing bodies, and 13,000 for cheering squads; a total of 104,000 tickets; still have not materialized. Joint host country Japan's World Cup Organizing Committee (JOWOC) has not received 150,000 tickets from Byrom.

Among, those who made reservations through the Internet and received their tickets, many find that they were seated apart. The organizing committee has put together an emergency group for dealing with this and has requested the help of FIFA. However, Byrom said in its stipulations, that "parties may be seated apart," according to KOWOC.

(Jeong Woo-sang, imagine@chosun.com )