PARIS: World Cup officials yesterday unveiled an example of the highly-sought tickets for this summer's World Cup. And they claimed they're impossible to forge. The ticket - printed by the company that supplies bank note paper to 120 countries worldwide - is a thick piece of blue and yellow rectangular paper.

Co-organiser Michel Platini said counterfeiters would be foiled by a special "lock" mechanism in the ticket, which also features in the country's state-of-the-art bank notes. The tickets depict the earth surrounded by nine footballs, evoking planets in the galaxy.

They also feature a watermark of Footix, the event mascot, layers of iridescent colour impossible to photocopy, a hologram of France and the World Cup trophy. The tickets will also bear the purchaser's name.

Psyhic trouble for England coach

LONDON: England coach Glenn Hoddle is happy to have faith healer Eileen Drewery along to assist his injury-prone team at the World Cup. But he's threateninglegal action against psychic Uri Geller who's also trying to help out. Geller, an Israeli who is a big fan of England, boasts that he smuggled the World Cup trophy to his home to positively energise in England's favour. He also said he sprinkled crystals on the playing surface at Marseille where Hoddle's team plays its first World Cup game against Tunisia.

After reading a newspaper report that Hoddle and Drewery visited Geller two years ago and took part in some kind of healing process, the England coach issued a statement saying the meeting never took place.