Olympic Football Tickets On Sale

Supporters are being urged to buy London 2012 Olympic Tickets from official sources as police crack down on ticket touts.

More than 2.5 million Olympic Football Tickets are on sale for a host of matches that will take place from 25th July to 11th August 2012. One million tickets will be reserved for young football fans through the London 2012’s ‘pay your age’ scheme for under 16s.

Premier League grounds will be hosting Olympic football with matches taking place at Manchester United’s Old Trafford and Newcastle United’s St. James’ Park.

A number of current Barclays Premier League stars have appeared at previous Olympic Games football tournaments including Arsenal’s Alex Song (Cameroon), Liverpool’s Raul Meireles (Portugal), Manchester City’s Carlos Tevez (Argentina) and Sunderland’s Asamoah Gyan (Ghana).

The Premier League is teaming up with London 2012 and the Metropolitan Police to encourage fans to buy tickets from official sources.

The Metropolitan Police has set-up Operation Podium to combat serious and organised crime associated with the London 2012 Olympic Games. The team has recently worked with both Arsenal and Liverpool and, during the weekend of 5/6 March, arrested a number of touts attempting to rip-off fans by selling over-priced tickets for the Arsenal v Sunderland and Liverpool v Manchester United fixtures.

The arrests were part of the work of Operation Podium’s efforts to crackdown on organised ticketing networks before the Olympic Games tickets went on sale on 15th March. The team is working now, up to and during the Games to create a difficult environment for touts to operate in and to give clear messages to the public on the safest ways to buy Olympic tickets.

Detective Chief Inspector Nick Downing from Operation Podium said: “Ticket touting is an illegal business run by people to gain financially through the exploitation of clubs and their fans. Genuine fans need to be aware they are not only fuelling criminal activity when they buy from a tout, but also putting themselves at risk as they could find themselves amongst opposing supporters.

“If you buy tickets from unofficial places, you run the risk of paying over the odds for a nonexistent ticket, ending up disappointed by not getting to see the game that you paid for and risk having your personal and credit card details stolen for use in other crimes. Don’t let this happen to you. Only visit official sites for a list of genuine sellers who are authorised to sell legitimate tickets.”