Dirty TackleWorld Cup ticket scalpers arrested after trying to sell at FIFA hotel
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FIFA officials and police say that two ticket scalpers had the bright idea to try and sell World Cup tickets inside a Rio hotel currently being used as a base camp for FIFA staff.
As you can imagine, this did not end well for them.
FIFA marketing director Thiery Weil told the press that FIFA called the police upon spotting these two business geniuses at the Sofitel Hotel near Copacabana beach.
From the AP:
The people arrested had 10 tickets in their possession supplied by "many different sources" including football federations and FIFA sponsors, Weil says.
Weil declined to identify the original providers, which are named on each World Cup ticket.
"I think it would be wrong to do a finger pointing in the press," he said, adding that FIFA's commercial affiliates received more than 200,000 match tickets for the 64-match tournament.
The tickets were canceled, but Weil stipulated that the tickets could have been legitimately sold or given out to prize winners before falling into the hands of the alleged touts. Who then unwittingly tried to sell them back to FIFA. Nefarious football commerce comes full circle.
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Brooks Peck is the editor of Dirty Tackle on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him or follow on Twitter! Follow @BrooksDT
