Swiss national soccercoach Ottmar Hitzfeld advises his players during a practice session of the Swiss squad in Jona, Switzerland Wednesday Oct. 10, 2012. The swiss squad prepares for upcoming World Cup 2014 Group E qualification soccer matches versus Norway (Friday) and Iceland (Tuesday). (AP Photo/Keystone/Alessandro Della Bella)
October 10, 2012 - 8:32 AM
LONDON - FIFA will try to minimize empty seats at the 2014 World Cup by taking measures to ensure sponsors use their allocation — or lose them.
There were large blocks of empty seats at some stadiums at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, and this year's European Championship in Poland and Ukraine.
FIFA marketing director Thierry Weil says at the Leaders in Football conference that sponsors would have to name the people using tickets two or three days before matches in Brazil.
Weil wants to ensure corporate partners "cannot just say the people will come and then nobody comes."
He says tickets will only be handed over the day of the game.
News from © The Associated Press, 2012