A leading FIFA official has agreed to investigate a newspaper report that a World Cup ticket issued to him ended up on the black market.
FIFA spokesman Keith Cooper said Qatar businessman Mohamed Bin Hammam, president-elect of the Asian soccer Federation, was shocked by a report in the Daily Mail, saying a ticket with his name on it had been bought by an England fan.
"I spoke to him yesterday and he was genuinely shocked, amazed and disappointed and totally at a loss to understand it," Cooper told a news conference. "We gave him the ticket number and he undertook to investigate."
The Daily Mailpublished a picture of the ticket, supplied by an England fan, for England's opening match against Sweden last Sunday with Bin Hammam's name on it.
As a FIFA executive committee member Bin Hammam has the right to order 10 tickets for first-round games and five tickets for subsequent matches. FIFA members pay for the tickets.