BERLIN - Online auction site ebay have told organisers of the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany they will not prevent people from trading black market tickets over their internet site.
The organising committee (OK) asked ebay not to sell World Cup tickets but the auction site pointed out that no-one was breaking the law.
"There are no laws forbidding this sort of trade," said ebay spokesman Nerses Chopurian.
OK went to great lengths to ensure World Cup tickets were purchased through the proper channels but just 48 hours after the first sales period black market tickets sufaced on ebay.
"I can not describe how sad I am about this development," said OK president Franz Beckenbauer. "We offered favourable ticket prices for the normal fans but unfortunately business has taken over."
Tickets for the World Cup semi-finals have reportedly been hiked up to 5,000 euros (6,500 dollars) on ebay and OK vice-president Horst R. Schmidt advised supporters not to be lured into the black market auction.
"I can only advise the fans not to buy tickets via an auction," said Schmidt. "There are still a lot of tickets on offer."
In total 2.93 million tickets are on sale and only the first batch of 812,000 tickets have been sold with four more sales periods still to come.
But OK and football's governing body FIFA have been inundated with e-mails complaining about the shortage of available tickets and with demand outstripping supply many fans have turned to the black market.
Ticket prices range from 35 euros (45 dollars) to 600 euros (777 dollars) for football's biggest showpiece running from June 9 until July 9 2006.
04/29/2005 12:12 GMT