Officials selling tickets on black market ...

... Tickets for Ghanaians sold to foreigners for huge profits
...One Official Arrested
According to the UK newspaper, THE OBSERVER, Ghana Football Associations (GFA) officials and some Ghanaian civil servants are involved in ticket touting at the ongoing FIFA football world cup in Germany

Some members of GFA were seen by THE OBSERVER journalists selling tickets at well over their face value before the black stars victory over Czech Republic and the United States.

Many of the tickets available on the black market were issued to the FAs in some of FIFA's 207 member countries worldwide.

Reports have surfaced in the German media that officials from poorer soccer federations are selling their tickets on the black market. A week ago, the president of the Botswana association, Ismail Bhamjee, was caught selling $127 tickets for England's match against Trinidad and Tobago for $380. Bhamjee, who is an honorary president of the Botswana Football Association (BFA) and President of the Confederation of Southern African Football Associations (Cosafa) was sent hom in disgrace.

THE OBSERVER wrote that, "Any Fifa inquiry could start by looking into what was happening last weekend at the Hilton Hotel in Cologne, where Michael Essien and the rest of his Ghana team-mates were staying before their match against the Czech Republic. In the hours before kick-off, two men who were with the Ghana FA party were selling tickets stamped with the Ghanaian FA's name to fans, including Czechs and English, for €250 each. With the original price of the tickets ranging from €35 to €100, they were making a killing."

On Thursday, outside the Frankenstadion in Nuremberg where Ghana recorded the victory over the US that gave them a dream match against Brazil, an Observer journalist talked to members of a delegation from the Ghanaian government who were in Germany to study the organisation of the World Cup to help them to prepare for hosting the African Nations Cup in 2008.

Moments later, the police moved in to question one of their colleagues, who was selling tickets, and then took him away. That did not deter the group of English and Ghanaian touts gathered nearby, who continued selling, especially to ticketless Americans eager to watch the match.

One Observer reader, who does not want to be identified, paid well over the odds for a seat at the Italy-Ghana match that came from the 'Fifa - adidas' allocation and one for Portugal-Angola that had originally been allocated to 'Fifa - McDonald's'.

'Outside Cologne cathedral before the Portugal-Angola game an American tout had boxes of tickets from Hyundai [a sponsor]. He told me he was selling their surplus tickets and splitting the money with them. He said he could get me tickets for any game I wanted, including the final.

'It was the same in Hanover before Italy-Ghana. The two guys who sold me my ticket said they were on the same deal with adidas. Again, all games were available on a sliding scale of prices, depending on the demand. All were clearly marked with Fifa and the sponsors' names. This is a scandal.'