FIFA are investigating claims that the Paraguayan Football Federation (the Asociación Paraguaya de Fútbol) broke FIFA ticketing rules by selling some of its allocation of World Cup tickets to foreign agencies, FIFA Secretary-General Urs Linsi has said.

The Observer reported on Sunday that Paraguay had sold around half of its 3,300 allocation of tickets (1,500 tickets) for its World Cup opening match against England in Frankfurt on Saturday to independent ticket agencies in Britain.

Linsi said FIFA had asked independent auditors Ernst and Young to investigate the accusations.

"These are media reports but there is no hard evidence," Linsi said at a press conference in Munich on Monday.

"We are asking Ernst and Young to investigate."

Linsi, who is responsible for the financial affairs of football's world governing body, said the investigation also concerned tickets for Paraguay's second Group B match, against Sweden in Berlin on June 15.

He added that a probe into similar claims concerning the national federation of Ivory Coast had proved "nothing".

FIFA have strict rules on ticket allocations for the Finals. National federations must sell the tickets in their own country or return them to FIFA for re-sale.

The Observer reported that four companies in the Paraguayan capital, Asuncion, grew suspicious because they had received far fewer tickets for the England game than for the South American's two other group-stage matches.

Siboney, one of Paraguay's legitimate ticket firms, told the Observer that it received just 40 tickets compared with up to 300 for the other Group B matches against Sweden and Trinidad and Tobago.

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