Port Elizabeth match has 8000 empty seats (fans who missed match demand refunds) - FIFA to investigate as inadequate transport said to be the cause.

Fifa said on the morning of Saturday's game between Greece and South Korea that it had distributed more than 39000 tickets for the match at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, which has a capacity of 42486.

At least 8000 seats were empty during the game, however.

Asked whether ticket holders had found themselves unable to reach the match, Fifa spokesman Nicolas Maingot said: "Those are the first results of our investigations."

Fifa had identified possible problems before the tournament and had requested and financed an improved bus service, he said. "But apparently that has not completely worked."

Lencedo Njezula, spokesman for the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality, denied there was inadequate transport, saying there was no need to overhaul the bus service. "These tickets were apparently sold to large organisations. Issues around ticketing are Fifa-related."

Fifa reportedly sold cut-price tickets in bulk to businesses and public bodies after demand proved slow for some less glamorous games.

Local Organising Committee spokesman Rich Mkhondo said group bookings accounted for many empty seats in Port Elizabeth. "The only explanation is that those people did not have transport," he said.

WORLD soccer body Fifa pledged yesterday to investigate transport problems in Port Elizabeth that may have prevented thousands of World Cup ticket holders from taking their seats, after a weekend in which some matches were played at partly empty stadiums.