Football: Tournament boss sure it'll all be tickety-boo

World Cup boss Dave Beeche wants to sell 500,000 tickets. Photo / Northern Advocate

The head of the Fifa Under-20 World Cup in New Zealand believes it can be a bigger drawcard than the recently completed Cricket World Cup.

The tournament, which kicks off on May 30 when the hosts take on Ukraine in Auckland, will see the cream of the globe's footballing talent descend on this country for a month.

It will be popular worldwide — up to 200 million people are expected to tune in — but will it capture the imagination on these shores?

Local Organising Committee chief executive Dave Beeche has no doubts. He has been working on the event for two-and-a-half-years and has set the ambitious target of selling 500,000 tickets (the Cricket World Cup attracted around 320,000 people in New Zealand).

"Filling the stadiums is what keeps you up at night," said Beeche. "Everything hinges on that. It's great for the stakeholder, creates a great spectator experience and, of course, that is what the players want as well. Fifa live and breathe pitch quality and top hotels but if you deliver a stadium full of screaming fans for these 19-year-old stars, that is what the players will remember."

Beeche had been warned against setting such a concrete target, but believes it is "totally achievable". It would mean average crowds of more than 10,000, nearly double what was achieved in 2013 in Turkey.

"The opening game is already more than 75 per cent sold and that will sell out, so will the final, and I'm confident about the two semifinals," he said.

Organisers say they have sold nearly 200,000 tickets, with glamour early games such as Brazil against Nigeria and Argentina taking on Panama also selling well.

"The key for us is nailing the first game in each venue," said Beeche. "Then people will rave about it and momentum builds."

Some of Beeche's confidence comes from personal experience, after he attended several matches in Turkey.

"I didn't have a football background but got so excited when I saw it," he said. "It completely captivated me. It was stunning viewing and end-to-end.

"That's what we need to communicate. It is a great sports spectacle, not just football."

More than 1000 players, officials and referees will be in New Zealand for the tournament, as well as a 120-strong contingent from Fifa.

Beeche, who also runs his own event management company, and guides a team of 170 people on the local organising committee, has spent time at Fifa's space-age headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland.

He's had several meetings with Fifa president Sepp Blatter ("he's the ultimate politician, always has little stories about New Zealand and asks about Wynton Rufer") and regular catch-ups with Fifa secretary-general Jerome Valcke.