Organising Commitee approves draw procedures

The Organising Committee for the FIFA Confederations Cup today (30 November) convened for its first meeting regarding the 2013 edition, which will take place from 15 to 30 June 2013 in Brazil. Opening the meeting, FIFA President Joseph Blatter welcomed the president of the Zimbabwe Football Association, Cuthbert Dube, and the president of the Croatian Football Association, Davor Suker - top goal scorer at the 1998 FIFA World Cup - as new members of the committee. The committee was chaired by deputy chairman and FIFA Executive Committee member, Jacques Anouma. “It is great to see such huge excitement for the FIFA Confederations Cup here in Brazil,” said Blatter. “This excitement has been clearly reflected in the huge success of 130,000 tickets being sold in the Visa pre-sales phase, which concluded today. Everybody has high anticipation for this ‘Festival of Champions’, from the teams to the fans and the government. The attendance of the high profiles attendees from the host country and cities at tomorrow’s draw underlines Brazil’s commitment from Brazil.” Although 98 per cent of the 132,795 tickets sold in the pre-sale phase were bought by Brazilians, there will also be briefs going to buyers from eight other nations: namely USA, Mexico, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Peru, Spain, Japan and England (ranked by number of tickets sold). Most tickets were bought in Belo-Horizonte and Rio de Janeiro, with more than 30,000, followed by Fortaleza (20,000-plus), Brasilia (17,000), Salvador (15,000) and Recife (12,000). The most popular match was the semi-final in Belo-Horizonte were the opening match and final. Tickets for all matches including category four – which is exclusive to Brazilians - will go on the public sale on 3 December as of 9h00 Brazilian time, two days after the draw, via FIFA.com. For further details, please visit the ticketing info brochure published on FIFA.com, using the link to the right. Furthermore, Sunday will see a promotional campaign for the FIFA Confederations Cup will be rolled out across Brazil. After an update on the preparations in the six host cities, the committee approved the procedures for the official draw, which will take place tomorrow (1 December) at the Anhembi Convention Centre in Sao Paulo. The eight teams will be divided evenly into the two team pots. They will then be drawn one by one into two groups – A and B – and their position within Groups A and B will be determined by drawing balls from the respective group pots. Pot 1 contains hosts Brazil, world champions Spain and the two next-highest seeded teams according to the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking of November 2012, Italy and Uruguay. Pot 2 comprises Japan, Mexico, Tahiti and the yet-to-be-decided African champions, who will be known on 10 February 2013. To view the draw procedures, please visit FIFA.com, using the link to the right. The committee also discussed the FIFA Confederations Cup regulations, which will be submitted to the FIFA Executive Committee meeting for approval at its meeting on the 14 December in Tokyo. The main point will be the proposed inclusion of drinking and cooling procedures recommended by the FIFA Medical Committee. Furthermore, the importance of a green FIFA Confederations Cup and FIFA World Cup was underlined by explaining the various initiatives that will aim to reduce the negative and increase the positive impact of the event on society and the environment. For further details please visit the sustainability section on FIFA.com, which can be found by following the link to the right of this story. The next meeting will be on 19 March in Zurich. From FIFA