FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017: LOC insists all tickets at its disposal were put for sale after discounting stakeholders' share

New Delhi: The under-fire Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the FIFA U-17 World Cup on Sunday said that it has put up for sale all the tickets it has at its disposal after discounting the shares of other stakeholders. The LOC said in a statement said that it had not held back any ticket from its side. [caption id=“attachment_3765993” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] The U-17 FIFA World Cup logo. Image Courtesy: FIFA Facebook page[/caption] “All the tickets that have been put up for sale are the maximum number of tickets that can be sold at each venue discounting below mentioned commitments. When a venue appears sold out, it reflects the position of tickets that have been put out for sale,” the LOC said. “Discounting the contractual obligations with the host association, all participating teams, all the 13 commercial partners of the tournament, host broadcaster, the signatories of host city, stadium and training site agreements and other stakeholders with which there are contracts with regards to the tournament to provide tickets,” it added. Prior to India’s opening match against the United States of America on 6 October, the LoC and the government have claimed that all the tickets have been sold and the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium would be full. But the stadium was not full during the match and there were many vacant areas. Reports have said that the government had blocked the sale of tickets early and reserved more than 25,000 seats for the children of selected schools of the National Capital Region. Those school children who turned up were not provided adequate water and food, after braving the heat for hours. The LOC had blamed the Sports Authority of India (SAI) for the water crisis, saying that the provision of drinking water was the responsibility of the facility owner (SAI).