FIFA admitted today that mistakes had been made in their World Cup ticket system and many seats had been over-priced.
Michel Zen-Ruffinen, FIFA's general secretary and the man in overall charge of the organisation of the tournament, confirmed that delays in printing tickets had also caused problems in the first two weeks.
Many empty seats at matches in Korea, including high-profile games such as France v Denmark, were due to FIFA's policy of charging fans the same prices in the co-host countries of Korea and Japan, despite the per capita income being far lower in Korea.
Zen-Ruffinen said: "There have been problems with the printing and distribution of the tickets, that's a fact and all the parties involved should all admit they were making mistakes.
"In Korea, for this country, the prices are probably too high. This is the decision that FIFA took, we decided to accept the same prices for the two countries which retrospectively was probably a mistake.
"The level of wages is not the same and it is definitely more expensive comparatively for Korean fans to attend a match in their country than for Japanese fans in Japan.
Tickets for the cheapest games started at $60. Other problems were caused by national associations ordering too many tickets and being unable to sell them.
The empty spaces embarrassed the Korean government to the extent they said they were considering legal action against Byrom, the British-based company who were in charge of ticketing.
PA