What Games are Played in Busan ~ About Busan Asian Main Stadium ~ How Do You Get Tickets? ~ Where Do You Stay? ~ What Cities are in Striking Distance of Busan? ~ The Friendly vs. England (May 21)

WHAT GAMES ARE PLAYED IN BUSAN?

* Saturday 2nd June; Paraguay v South Africa; 4:30pm
* Tuesday 4th June; Korea v Poland; 8:30pm
* Thursday 6th June; France v Uruguay; 8:30pm

ABOUT BUSAN ASIAD MAIN STADIUM
The stadium is located at 1300 Geoje-dong, Yeonje-gu, Busan, with a capacity of 55,982. There is parking space for 3,098 cars and was completed in July 2001. It is 5 minutes by car from Dongrae Subway Station (1.6 km); 7 min. by car from Express Bus Terminal (1.9 km); 30 min. from Busan Railway Station (13 km); or 40 min. from Gimhae International Airport (16 km). More info on the stadium can be read at: http://www.busanworldcup.net/ From Dongnae Subway there are loads of buses to get, all going to the stadium and all clearly marked, you won't find it a problem. The ride takes about ten minutes, and of course everyone's going to the same place!

HOW DO YOU GET TICKETS?
Resident
Residents of Korea have the best chance of buying four World Cup tickets per match at face value. The deadline for showing up at the Post Office has passed now, so it's late in the day. Plus most of the tickets are now gone. But if you must see that Paraguay v South Africa game, perhaps try the ticket office at the stadium? If you did purchase tickets at the Post Office, they are available for collection from the 10th of May from wherever you paid for them.

The entire process is detailed at http://ticket.2002worldcupkorea.org

There is another way as well...

Non-resident
Non-residents can buy tickets for games on the "black market". These tickets are abundant and openly advertised even on this website's classified section. They do not come cheap though and one phone call quoted me $250 a ticket for the Korea games. Still if it means a lot to you... Prices may well come down and this writer thinks they will, but only if you take the risky strategy of waiting until very late. It's up to you.

Pricing
The following table details the price structure for tickets. The consensus of opinion agrees that prices are high, although notice the group stage games are to be purchased at somewhat of a bargain.

Section	1st grade	2nd grade	3rd grade
Opening game	W 550,000	W 275,000	W 165,000
Preliminary	W 165,000	W 110,000	W 66,000
Round of 16	W 247,500	W 192,500	W 110,000
Quarterfinal	W 330,000	W 220,000	W 137,500
Semifinal	W 550,000	W 330,000	W 192,500
3·4 Match	W 247,500	W 192,500	W 110,000

WHERE DO YOU STAY?
Visitors to Busan coming for the World Cup already do so at great expense. Corporate visitors can use any of a number of large hotels in town, either in the center, such as Seomyon, or near the beach at Haeundae, where there are numerous large hotels. Budget travelers are in luck too. Like every Korean city, Busan has numerous cheap hotels known as "yogwan". These cost around $20-$30 dollars a night and it is hard to think of a part of town that does not have them. Some of the obvious choices are included in the popular travel guides. If you require a "more authentic and native experience" then it is also possible to stay with a Korean family for the tournament, they take care of you for your stay and a telephone number & website for getting in touch with these will appear here at a later date. For FIFA's official accommodation page, check out http://www.fifa-hotels.com/info/korea/busan.htm

WHAT CITIES AND GAMES ARE IN STRIKING DISTANCE OF BUSAN?
Ulsan and Daegu. Both are a one or two-hour bus or train ride away and stage the following games:
* Saturday 1st June; Uruguay v Denmark; Ulsan; 6pm
* Monday 3rd June; Brazil v Turkey; Ulsan; 6pm
* Thursday, 6th June; Denmark v Senegal; Daegu; 3:30pm
* Saturday 8th June; South Africa v Slovenia; Daegu; 3:30pm
* Monday 10th June; Korea v USA; Daegu; 3:30pm

THE FRIENDLY V ENGLAND: HOW TO GET THERE AND GET TICKETS
This game takes place on Cheju Island on Tuesday, 21st May. Tickets go on sale as of Friday 10th of May from Seoul Bank. P-Web understands they cost between W10,000 and W50,000. You can fly there and back in a day or over two days, which'll set you back another W100,000 but go on, you're worth it. You deserve it after all that slogging hard work they make you work here.

This guide was created and is maintained by Johnny Hotspur.
Send info and questions to John (with WORLDCUP in the Title Bar) at [email protected]