14 Mar 2014

FIFA happy with under-20 World Cup preparations

5:41 pm on 14 March 2014

Preparations for next year's under-20 men's football World Cup, to be held here, are well on track.

FIFA officials wound up their 10-day tour of New Zealand last Friday and the world governing body's senior competition manager Rhiannon Martin says they're 90% happy with the readiness of facilities around the country.

That's an unusually high pass mark this far out from the tournament, which is FIFA's second biggest behind the senior men's World Cup, being held this year in Brazil.

Martin says they're mostly happy with what they've seen of the seven host cities' pitches, dressing rooms and so forth at this stage.

The under-20 tournament features 24 teams and begins at the end of May next year, culminating in the final at North Harbour Stadium in late June.

As well as addressing the media, FIFA also unveiled the trophy, which goes on a tour of its own in May, starting at Waitangi and going right around the country.

And registered football players in New Zealand will be the first to get access to priority tickets.

An exclusive ticket sales period for the national football family will run from April the 28th to May the 18th, with a five percent rebate on venue pack sales in 2014 going directly to their clubs.