RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazilian prosecutors, picking up every contentious World Cup issue, are now demanding that FIFA and the local organising committee pay $2m to settle claims for ticketing problems in Recife during the Confederations Cup last June.

The claim – which also names the FIFA agency Match Services – is on behalf of fans upset that their seats were not as good as expected when they made the purchases, and that some ticket orders forced people to sit in opposite sides of the stadium at the venue’s three matchesat the Arena Pernambuco.

State prosecutors in Pernambuco state say they hope the lawsuit will help prevent the issue from recurring during next year’s World Cup, although FIFA has already sold nearly 1.2m tickets, not far short of the total 3.3m allocation.

Prosecutor Guilherme Lapenda said: “The action is aimed at guaranteeing that consumers receive exactly what they pay for.” He said that FIFA and Match had already been fined more than $200,000 each by consumer rights officials because of the problems at the stadium.

For World Cup tickets, FIFA tells fans in advance that they “cannot choose specific seats,” only pick between four tickets categories based on stadium location. It also advises that it cannot guarantee that fans will sit next to each other.

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