* Saturday 2nd June; Paraguay v South Africa; 4:30pm
* Tuesday 4th June; Korea v Poland; 8:30pm
* Thursday 6th June; France v Uruguay; 8:30pm
ABOUT
BUSAN ASIAD MAIN STADIUM The stadium is located at 1300 Geoje-dong, Yeonje-gu, Busan,
with a capacity of 55,982. There is parking space for 3,098 cars
and was completed in July 2001. It is 5 minutes by car from Dongrae
Subway Station (1.6 km); 7 min. by car from Express Bus Terminal
(1.9 km); 30 min. from Busan Railway Station (13 km); or 40 min.
from Gimhae International Airport (16 km). More info on the stadium
can be read at: http://www.busanworldcup.net/
From Dongnae Subway there are loads of buses to get, all going
to the stadium and all clearly marked, you won't find it a problem.
The ride takes about ten minutes, and of course everyone's going
to the same place!
HOW DO YOU GET TICKETS? Resident
Residents of Korea have the best chance of buying four World Cup
tickets per match at face value. The deadline for showing up at
the Post Office has passed now, so it's late in the day. Plus
most of the tickets are now gone. But if you must see that Paraguay
v South Africa game, perhaps try the ticket office at the stadium?
If you did purchase tickets at the Post Office, they are available
for collection from the 10th of May from wherever you paid for
them.
Non-resident
Non-residents can buy tickets for games on the "black market".
These tickets are abundant and openly advertised even on this
website's classified section. They do not come cheap though and
one phone call quoted me $250 a ticket for the Korea games. Still
if it means a lot to you... Prices may well come down and this
writer thinks they will, but only if you take the risky strategy
of waiting until very late. It's up to you.
Pricing
The following table details the price structure for tickets. The
consensus of opinion agrees that prices are high, although notice
the group stage games are to be purchased at somewhat of a bargain.
Section
1st grade
2nd grade
3rd grade
Opening game
W 550,000
W 275,000
W 165,000
Preliminary
W 165,000
W 110,000
W 66,000
Round of 16
W 247,500
W 192,500
W 110,000
Quarterfinal
W 330,000
W 220,000
W 137,500
Semifinal
W 550,000
W 330,000
W 192,500
3·4 Match
W 247,500
W 192,500
W 110,000
WHERE DO YOU STAY?
Visitors to Busan coming for the World Cup already do so at great
expense. Corporate visitors can use any of a number of large hotels
in town, either in the center, such as Seomyon, or near the beach
at Haeundae, where there are numerous large hotels. Budget travelers
are in luck too. Like every Korean city, Busan has numerous cheap
hotels known as "yogwan". These cost around $20-$30
dollars a night and it is hard to think of a part of town that
does not have them. Some of the obvious choices are included in
the popular travel guides. If you require a "more authentic
and native experience" then it is also possible to stay with
a Korean family for the tournament, they take care of you for
your stay and a telephone number & website for getting in
touch with these will appear here at a later date. For FIFA's
official accommodation page, check out http://www.fifa-hotels.com/info/korea/busan.htm
WHAT CITIES AND GAMES ARE
IN STRIKING DISTANCE OF BUSAN?
Ulsan and Daegu. Both are a one or two-hour bus or train ride
away and stage the following games:
* Saturday 1st June; Uruguay v Denmark; Ulsan; 6pm
* Monday 3rd June; Brazil v Turkey; Ulsan; 6pm
* Thursday, 6th June; Denmark v Senegal; Daegu; 3:30pm
* Saturday 8th June; South Africa v Slovenia; Daegu; 3:30pm
* Monday 10th June; Korea v USA; Daegu; 3:30pm
THE FRIENDLY V ENGLAND:
HOW TO GET THERE AND GET TICKETS
This game takes place on Cheju Island on Tuesday, 21st May. Tickets
go on sale as of Friday 10th of May from Seoul Bank. P-Web understands
they cost between W10,000 and W50,000. You can fly there and back
in a day or over two days, which'll set you back another W100,000
but go on, you're worth it. You deserve it after all that slogging
hard work they make you work here.
This guide was created and is maintained by Johnny
Hotspur.
Send info and questions to John (with WORLDCUP in the Title Bar)
at [email protected]