TEMPLATE – FRANCE98 – Press Release

The third phase of ticket sales opened on 18 September 1997 and runs for a month. Aimed at the general public resident in France, this phase involves tickets for the most important matches: the Opener, the quarter-finals, the semi-finals, the third place play-off and the Final, all of which are to be attributed by a Draw, following a decision by the French Organising Committee.

The registration period, whereby members of have only four days to put down your name and give yourself the chance of joining in the FRANCE 98 party. Next the public can put down their names for the 227,000 tickets on offer for the 9 big games, ends at midnight on Saturday 18 October. The Draw, which will be carried out match by match, is to take place in the first fortnight of December and will be overseen by a legal officer.

Michel Platini, the French Organising Committee Co-President, reiterated that “the only way to obtain tickets for these important games is to take part in the Draw. For those who have not yet done so, you now year it’ll be too late, whereas now you have as much chance as anyone else of getting your seats if you apply before midnight on Saturday. Why not give it a whirl!”

We would like to remind you that reservations can be made in three ways:

• by Minitel 3615 FRANCE 98

• by telephone on (33) 0 803 00 1998

• by returning an application form, obtainable from any of Crédit Agricole’s 8,300 branches, before midnight on 18 October. The postmark will be taken as proof of date.

In the interests of fairness, those persons who put their name down for tickets over the next four days will have just as much chance of winning a ticket as those who have already done so: each application is to be treated on an equal footing for the Draw.

By 14 October, 550,000 tickets had already been requested, an indication indeed that the general public resident in France are right behind the event and the ticket allocation process.