FRANCE 98 – Press releaseTemplate

Between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. today, the France Telecom network registered nearly 20 million telephone calls – 5 million of them from international callers – made to the telephone platform set up by the French Organising Committee for the reservation of the 110,000 individual tickets still remaining for matches in the World Cup first round (except the Opening match) and round of sixteen.

These figures refer to the number of calls received, not the number of actual callers, from the 18 countries in the European Economic Space. As announced, this telephone platform, which closed at the end of this first day of reservations at 8 p.m. (French time), will open again at 8 p.m. tomorrow, 23 April.

No fewer than 90 operators, of which 60 are dealing with international calls, are working on this huge task. Today they registered reservations for more than 15,000 tickets.

“We are very happy with the way the day has gone, and in particular with the smooth running of the technical means set up to deal with reservations. We are very aware that a large number of people weren’t successful in getting through to us on this first day, and we are very sorry. We really want to satisfy as many people as possible, but we also have to keep an eye on the quality of information we give to our callers, and to the accuracy of all the details we have to register for each reservation,” says Isabelle Delaye, Head of Ticketing for FRANCE 98. She adds, “There are still more than 95,000 tickets left, and we invite all those who do not yet have what they want to call us again tomorrow and in the coming days.”

Don’t forget that reservations can only be made by telephone on the numbers given, according to the principle of “first come first served,” with a limit of 4 tickets per person per match, and with an overall limit of of 16 tickets per person.

There are three special numbers to call if you want to make reservations: :

Callers from countries in the European Economic Space (apart from France)………………………………………………………………………33 1 49 87 53 54

Callers in mainland France……………………..…………………………..0 803 00 1998

Callers from overseas French territories………………………………..01 49 87 53 54

Until all the tickets are sold, the telephone platform will be open every day from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. from Wednesday 22 April till Thursday 30 April. From Saturday 2 May, it will open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., but will be closed on Sundays apart from Sunday 3 May.

Payment for tickets ordered can be made by bank card, or failing this, a certified banker’s cheque (made out in French francs and which must be received by the French Organising Committee no later than 7 days after the order is made). Use of a card (card number) or a bank account is limited to a single order.