By Tony Hallett, 14 August 2002 15:50
NEWS Vodafone has denied abusing its position as Manchester United sponsor to take an unfair share of tickets for the club's Champions League match against Zalaegerszeg (Zala) of Hungary tonight. The game will take place at Hungary's national stadium, which will seat 28,000 fans. Vodafone has secured 10,000 of those seats - giving away 5,000 pairs to Hungarian subscribers who won a premium rate SMS message competition run over the past four days. Some fans in the UK and Hungary have been outraged by the move, rumoured to involve a competition question about David Beckham's hair. However, Graeme Millar, marketing director at Vodafone Hungary Kft, told silicon.com: "This is what Hungarians would call a 'cucumber season' [silly season] story. Zala never thought they would sell all 28,000 tickets and we came to them saying we would buy some and promote the game. And they have become the hottest tickets in town." He added: "I have no idea where the Beckham hair rumour came from but I wish I'd thought of it." Vodafone owns 68.3 per cent of Vodafone Hungary Kft.
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