FIFA director of Communications and PR Markus Siegler said that fans wearing Kaizer Chiefs jerseys to FIFA 2010 World Cup matches will not be turned away from stadiums or be made to change their clothing.

Siegler made this comment while addressing a question directed at his colleague Jerome Valcke who was briefing the media in Cape Town this week on various commercial and sponsorship issues relating to the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa.

Valcke was asked a question around fans entering the stadium with products that would be in conflict with official FIFA World Cup sponsors, the example given was of a fan entering the stadium with a can of PEPSI while Coca-Cola were the official tournament sponsors.

Valcke answered this question by stating: “We are not policing these kinds of issues as they are not really important, what we are on the look out for is ambush marketing when companies who are not linked to the event try to get publicity out of the FIFA World Cup.”

An example cited in this regard was that at the recent FIFA World Cup in Germany, a Dutch company who were not a FIFA World Cup Sponsor, had handed out a number of promotional items to over a hundred Dutch fans.

With the hope that these fans would have worn these items at matches featuring the Dutch national team, and that the television cameras would fall on them, thus getting the said company publicity which would have otherwise broken their budget.

This company was in conflict with a FIFA World Cup Sponsor and Dutch fans, who turned up at games wearing these items were given alternative clothing to wear instead. FIFA’s reasoning behind preventing ambush marketing is that FIFA World Cup Sponsors invest heavily, in being associated with the FIFA World Cup and need to be protected by the World body.

Once Valkce had addressed the question, Siegler who was the Master of Ceremonies rounded off on the issue by adding: “Fans attending FIFA World Cup matches in 2010 can wear their Kaizer Chiefs jersey, they won’t have any problem.”