2010 World Cup tickets on sale early next year
Reuters - Thursday 04 September 2008, 14:16
JOHANNESBURG - Tickets for the 2010
World Cup in South Africa will go on sale early next year,
organisers of the tournament said on Thursday.
Tickets will be sold in phases, with some available when
qualification for the 32-team tournament is complete in late
2009.
The first batch of tickets will be sold in host cities, at
airport terminals and online.
"End-January next year (2009) we will begin selling the
World Cup tickets," Leslie Sedibe, legal manager of the 2010
Local Organising Committee (LOC) told Reuters.
Approximately 3.1 million tickets are expected to be made
available for purchase, with a minimum price of $20 (currently
about 157 rand).
World soccer's governing body FIFA has said the cheapest
tickets will be sold exclusively to South African residents.
FIFA is also planning to distribute around 120,000
complimentary tickets to South Africans, courtesy of a newly
established ticket fund.
However, the majority of South Africans will follow the
tournament on television as Africa hosts the event for the first
time.
"The demand of tickets in the World Cup has always surpassed
the supply," LOC chief executive officer Danny Jordaan said.
FIFA has introduced a new system for the 2010 World Cup,
which it said would greatly increase the number of tickets
available for genuine football supporters.
David Will, chairman of the ticketing sub-committee for the
World Cup, said in July the percentage of tickets for fans from
countries qualifying for the finals would rise by 50 percent.
Fans from teams involved in World Cup finals matches will
now get 12 percent of the total stadium capacity for their
matches, up from a previous total of 8 percent.
This will apply in the first round only, after which the
percentage will average about eight percent for the knockout
phase matches.
The tournament will be played in June and July 2010.
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