Euro 2008 ticket sales launched

BASEL, March 1 (Reuters) Tickets for the 2008 European Championships went on sale today with organisers promising a large share of seats for regular fans ''at fair and affordable prices.'' ''We estimate that around 75 percent of the tournament's tickets will go to regular supporters,'' Euro 2008 CEO Martin Kallen told a media conference.

A third of the total 1,050,000 tickets are now available via the official Web site www.euro2008.com with the sales window open until the end of March.

All applications made will then go into a lottery with successful applicants receiving notification in April.

A further 38% of tickets will be distributed to fans of the qualified teams via the national associations in early 2008, following the tournament draw in December 2007, with additional fan seats being passed on by tournament sponsors in the form of promotional competitions.

While the percentage share of tickets going to fans will be larger than for the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany, the smaller stadiums in Austria and Switzerland mean that the total number of tickets will be considerably less.

Vienna's Ernst-Happel stadium is the largest of the eight venues with a capacity of 50,000. Basel's St Jakob stadium can hold up to 40,000 but the remaining six grounds can only take around 30,000 spectators.

''We know that a lot of people will have to be disappointed, particularly because of the relatively small but fine stadiums, so we wanted to offer a particularly high proportion of the tickets directly to the fans,'' said Swiss tournament director Christian Mutschler.

Tickets are available in three price categories, with group stage prices varying from 45 euros for third category seats to 110 euros in the first category.

For the final in Vienna on June 29, top category seats will cost 550 euros.

Unlike 2006 World Cup tickets, applicants do not have to give the details of all ticket users, as only the name of the buyer is required.

Since Switzerland and Austria are the only teams to have already qualified for the tournament, as co-hosts, fans from other countries will still face the uncertainty of buying tickets 'blind' in the hope of ending up with some tickets for their own favourite team.

Euro 2008 gets underway in Basel on June 7, 2008, with matches also being staged in Geneva, Berne, Zurich, Innsbruck, Salzburg, Klagenfurt and Vienna.

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