The position of Fifa's special seats at QBE Stadium in Albany for the U20 World Cup final. Photo / Supplied
The position of Fifa's special seats at QBE Stadium in Albany for the U20 World Cup final. Photo / Supplied
Special seats were installed at Albany stadium so Fifa's top executives could sit in line with halfway during the U20 World Cup final - even though existing seats were under one metre from the mark.
The precisely aligned seats were to be filled by Fifa president Sepp Blatter and vice-presidentJeffrey Webb, the tournament's chairman.
Mr Blatter indicated he would attend the final before Fifa was spectacularly engulfed in a bribery and corruption scandal that saw police swoop on its annual congress in Zurich.
Mr Webb was among six Fifa officials arrested on May 27 as part of the corruption probe started by prosecutors in the United States.
Law officials have not accused Mr Blatter, 79, of any wrongdoing, but his stewardship of Fifa is under scrutiny, sources familiar with investigations in the US and Switzerland have said.
Neither Mr Blatter nor Mr Webb made the trip to Auckland. The highest-ranking Fifa official in attendance was Oceania Football Confederation president David Chung.
The seats were placed in the VIP area at QBE stadium after football's world body deemed that existing seats less than 1m either side of halfway did not meet requirements.
A tournament official confirmed the seats were relocated by the tournament's Local Organising Committee (LOC) a month before the tournament began.
"All stadiums which play host to matches during the Fifa U-20 World Cup are required to have a central aisle of seating where the highest ranking officials from both Fifa and the LOC can be seated together to watch the match," a statement issued by Fifa said.
The VIP area at Albany had 128 seats. However, none were considered acceptable for use by VIPs - the designation Fifa uses for a select group of its top-ranked Fifa honchos and local dignitaries.
The view from the special seats. Photo / Supplied
The only sign of the seats when the Herald visited the ground on Thursday were holes in the concrete where steel poles had been.
A Regional Facilities Auckland spokesman said it had rented the stadium to Fifa under the condition it be returned to its original state at the end of the tournament. There was no cost to the ratepayer.
The agency owns and operates the ground on behalf of ratepayers.
Demands from sporting officials are not unusual when it comes to hosting major events.
Eden Park's operators installed 100 plush seats, resembling airline business class seats, in its VIP area as part of its agreement to host the 2011 Rugby World Cup final.
And the hosting agreement for the 2010 Fifa World Cup in South Africa reveals each team had a luxury 50-seat bus, two cars, a minivan and a luggage van for travel requirements. Fifa's transport allocation consisted of two private jets, two limousines, 300 cars and five to six buses.
