SOCCER:A WEEK ahead of the draw for Euro 2012 in Kiev, the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) announced ticketing information yesterday for supporters hoping to travel to Poland or Ukraine next summer. The allocation will range from 6,000 to 10,000 per match, depending on the venues Ireland are drawn to play in.

Polish cities Warsaw and Wroclaw will host group A matches and Poznan and Gdansk will be the venues for group C. Ukraine will stage group B (Kharkiv and Lviv) and D (Donetsk and Kiev) games.

An FAI ‘Fan Sales Portal’ will be set up on the Uefa website from December 12th (9.0am) until February 29th (midnight) next year. Those entitled to apply for tickets through this portal will include supporters who have attended away matches during the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign, Vantage Club members, current season ticket holders (2011/2012) and “active block bookers”.

There are, say the FAI, more than 6,500 individuals in these categories and each one will be allowed apply for a maximum of two tickets for each game played by the Republic of Ireland. They will be contacted by the FAI during the week commencing December 5th and provided with a password that will allow them log on to the Uefa portal.

Anyone wishing to buy tickets but who is not in one of the four categories can, say the FAI, book packages through Abbey Travel, the association’s official ‘travel partner’, or Thomson Sport, who have the Uefa Euro 2012 travel license. They can also apply through Uefa’s re-sale portal which will redistribute tickets based on availability or returns. Clubs, leagues and affiliates who have a ticket allocation with the FAI will be contacted separately.