So that big cup draw has been made, your team has got the tie that they were praying for. A home tie as well. “All you can ask for is a home tie” apparently. It is going to be the game of the season, make no mistake. You simply have to be there. No, you don’t understand- you have to be there.

One snag. Your team’s ground holds 40,000 fans, 25,000 of these are season ticket holders. 7,000 are away fans. This leaves 8,000 seats for Mr. Nobodys like yourself. And about 30,000 people are thinking exactly the same as you.

There are solutions of course, there are loudmouth touts lurking outside the ground, but you are looking at paying through the nose (not even the nose in fact, the eyes) for even the shabbiest seat, with a fair chance that your “Golden Ticket” is in fact Golden Syrup carved into a Ryvita.

Thank the lord then for the internet. Here is your guide to boxing clever in the football ticket market.

Who?

So to begin with, what exactly are we talking about when we say buying football tickets online? Who is it who is selling these tickets? Well, a ticket broker is a business that sells tickets at market price. Market price is determined by the demand for a football ticket and the price associated with obtaining them. Market price fluctuates, but is often higher than the face value printed on the ticket. There are thousands of businesses that sell football tickets but only a few hundred are ticket brokers, and only a handful of those have experience in the ticket industry.

Ticket brokers sell tickets to events, and specialize in providing premium tickets or tickets for sold out events. Ticket broker are a service business that save clients time and make buying tickets convenient.

Why?

So, what makes the internet any safer for buying football tickets than a shady corner on a shady street round the back of Anfield? After all, at least you can run away from a tout, and the only loss you will make will be a cash one, once a website has your card details it could rinse your account there and then.

But if you are smart, and a bit flush to be honest, there are ways in which you can get hold of priceless football tickets for just about any football match on the planet, and without ensuring that your wife goes without birthday presents for a year or two.

Type in “football tickets” to any search engine, and the first website you are likely to see is www.1st4footballtickets.com. It looks authentic, it looks professional. It lists the Premier League, Serie A, La Liga, the FA Cup, the Champions League, UEFA Cup, the SPL, the Eredivisie. It even accepts all major credit cards; those Visa/MasterCard/Delta logos really are an impressive bit of branding aren’t they?

But any game? Well it would appear that way, a check on next Monday’s Liverpool v Everton derby lists no fewer than nine potential ticket sellers, with prices ranging from £149.50 for 2 tickets in the Anfield Road, to £260 if you would prefer to be in amongst the Kop. Hefty perhaps, but from my own personal experience, it’s at least as cheap as entrusting the Irish touts down the Breck Road.

Moving into Spain, and if you are looking for a trip to the Camp Nou or the Bernabeu, then this website claims it has seven vendors which can help you. Better still, a Category 4 ticket (Category 4 = Cheap in Spanish) for Barça v Deportivo La Coruña will only set you back £37.50. Bravo.

If you decide you fancy delving into this market, there are a number of shipping options which you can select, although obviously some of these are unavailable depending on the location, and the date of the game. For foreign games, there is either a DHL service which will set you back between £30 & £70 depending on your location, or a hotel/domestic delivery service within Spain, Germany, Portugal, Holland or Italy which costs between £8 & £10. For UK matches there is a special delivery service which can cost up to £15, or a UPS international delivery that will leave a £40 dent in your pocket, so remember to add that onto your ticket cost before you consider buying. Alternatively, you can in some cases arrange for a collection, free of charge. It just depends whether you fancy marching into the unknown to pick up tickets.

The payments are processed by a Catalan bank called Banco Sabadell Atlantico (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banco_Sabadell), and a quick search of this bank uncovers a pretty reputable history, with the bank founded in 1881, known to be the fourth largest in Spain with over 10,000 employees, plus a profit of €782m in 2007. It all looks pretty good so far.

Why not?

But there is always a flipside of course. You do not have to look far on the web to find someone with a horror story to tell about online football tickets not arriving, fake football tickets, double charges and the like. For example, in 2006 two Arsenal fans who paid £1,100 for four tickets for their Champions League final clash with Barcelona in Paris were left heartbroken when said tickets failed to arrive. The online ticket company- The Online Ticket Shop- was named and shamed in the Daily Mirror, and soon after was forced into administration with debts of over £1.1m.

Other risks with buying football tickets online centre around one of the fastest growing crimes in the world, identity/impersonation fraud. You are always taking a risk when inputting debit/credit card details onto a website, as in every corner of retail/commerce, there are as many unsavoury characters as there are decent sellers. Here are a few tips in finding a reliable ticket broker, and avoiding online scams. thanks to (www.ticketcity.com/helpful-links/tickets):

• Check for hidden fees, some brokers hide their service charge until you have already provided your personal information.
• Know who you are buying from, make sure they have an About Us page and easily accessible contact information.
• Make sure they have a stated return policy.
• Verify whether they offer a money back guarantee.
• Make sure they offer safe, secure ordering on the web. Look for “https” in the URL of the order form, and the secure “lock” symbol somewhere on the browser.
• Ensure they offer a reliable shipping method.
• Look for membership in the Better Business Bureau (BBB).
• Verify they have a stated Privacy Policy.
• Buy from a ticket broker who has been in business for 5 or more years in order to benefit from the experience they have over new brokers
• If the deal seems too good to be true then it probably is, so walk away.
• Be extremely careful when buying tickets on the street from a scalper.
• Do not buy tickets that require you to wire money to a foreign country.
• Be extremely careful buying tickets on free classified sites or auction sites.
• Avoid buying from a ticket broker who is not reliable.
• Buy tickets from a legitimate source, a reputable ticket broker (see above).
• Check the event, date and time to ensure it is correct.
• Know the location of the seats you are buying.
• Understand when the tickets will be delivered to you.
• Pay with a credit card

Where?

Well, typing in “football tickets online” will bring you back over 5m matches. These range from the professional (http://www.1st4footballtickets.com/) to the downright substandard (http://www.soccer-corner.com/Shopping-and-Betting.Tickets.Football-Tickets.htm). Whatever your preference, it shouldn’t be hard to find a site that can (at least claim to) match your requirements:

http://www.1st4footballtickets.com

I don’t work for them, honest! They’re just a well run, professional looking site that- on the face of it at least- are able to obtain tickets for just about any game in Europe. Merseyside derby? No problem. Milan derby? Why not! Barça v Numancia? Easy. Accepts all major credit/debit cards, a range of reliable shipping methods, and a hellishly easy to use website. Only drawbacks are the prices, which can get a little silly, but that is football I guess.

http://www.ticketbroker.co.uk

VAT free site, although that makes little difference as the prices are still pretty high (£80 for England v Slovakia friendly?!). Pretty well laid out, stadium plans so you know exactly where your seat is, numerous competitions to find tickets for, as well as other sports (tennis, motor racing etc).

http://www.tickets4football.com

Designed by a seven year old on their first computer perhaps? This site also offers to buy tickets from you, and makes a big deal of its secure payment service (see tips above). Operates mainly in Premiership tickets, but with World Cup & Champions League games also on offer.

http://footballencounters.co.uk

This is more for those of you who are looking to take a package trip to watch a match abroad. English, Italian, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Dutch & Champions Leagues are all covered, stag do packages are covered, hotels in most of the big cities are available (Madrid, Florence, Berlin etc), VIP packages are offered at Espanyol, Barça, Real Madrid, Lazio, Inter, Milan & Roma, and the site will even cater for your individual needs using their customer enquiry service- send them your wishes and they will (try and) do the rest. The support section of the site is very comprehensive and it is hard to get lost when negotiating your way around, for football trips, there are few sites that come close.

In conclusion

To buy or not to buy, that is the question.

All in all I would say that the thriving online football ticket market has its merits, the better sites should lead you to tickets for just about any match you need, and as seen above there is plenty of scope for organising a barn-storming trip abroad to see a European/South American game. Yes your success in buying tickets will undoubtedly depend on your budget and the vendor you choose, but there are so many sites around which have pretty good advice on how to avoid getting ripped off (and the points above will help no end) that you really can’t go far wrong, providing you don’t get too desperate.

And let’s face it, anything beats handing over a wad of dirty twenty pound notes to a grubby little man outside Wembley doesn’t it?