Soccer-UEFA moves to stop website selling Euro 2016 tickets

LONDON, March 19 (Reuters) - UEFA has taken legal action in France to prevent a website from offering tickets for this year's European Championship, European soccer's ruling body said on Saturday. A French court has granted UEFA an order against guaranteetickets.com, ordering it to stop selling tickets to the matches and not to use UEFA trademarks. Akirma Ventures Limited, the company behind the site, will be fined 1,000 euros ($1,127) for each day it fails to comply. "This summer will see a fantastic festival of football but fans intending to travel should only do so if they have bought tickets from official channels," UEFA solicitor Nick Bitel said in a statement. The site has advertised on Google but UEFA says it has no right to sell Euro 2016 tickets and that tickets bought through unofficial channels may not gain the buyer entry to the matches. Akirma Ventures Limited could not be reached for comment despite efforts to contact the company by phone and email. Major sports events recently have been marred by a number of websites selling tickets which they then fail to deliver. England, Wales and Northern Ireland have qualified for the tournament starting in June and UEFA is expecting unprecedented numbers of British fans to travel to France. UEFA is concerned that because of the high levels of demand fraudsters will target fans desperate to follow their teams. The ruling body has already taken down several unauthorised websites illegitimately offering to buy or sell tickets. ($1 = 0.8876 euros) (Reporting by Ed Osmond; Editing by Ros Russell)