NICOSIA - A top French sports official angrily defended his country's handling of World Cup ticket sales to foreign fans, saying on Friday that France wanted to avoid half-empty stadiums. Gilles Smadja, a top official at the French sports and youth ministry, told a closed-door meeting of European sports ministers in the Cypriot capital that France had abided by FIFA regulations for this summer's World Cup football tournament.

Smadja defended the allocation of the lion's share of tickets to French fans, saying Otherwise we wouldn't have sold half the tickets because only French people would buy tickets for the less popular games, according to a diplomat present at the meeting in Nicosia. Smadja washed his hands of the whole issue and said the French organisers had done nothing wrong.

He was very touchy, the diplomat said. France has faced an avalanche of bad publicity from qualifying countries such as Britain, Belgium and Holland because of their meagre allocation of tickets. Ministers from the 40-member council of Europe held a two-day meeting here to discuss challenges facing the world of sport, including drugs and violence. (AFP)