28 January 2010
After three of five ticketing sales phases for the 2010 Fifa World Cup™ South Africa, over 2-million tickets – two-thirds of the total available – have been sold.
The third ticketing sales phase, which will conclude with a random draw for oversubscribed matches on 1 February, saw a total of 1 206 865 applications received from 192 countries.
Six matches are currently oversubscribed (in all categories), among them the semi-finals and the final. In total, 55 matches are oversubscribed in at least one category.
There was huge interest from South African residents, who accounted for 79 percent of the total applications received (958 381) in this phase. This represents an increase of 24.9 percent in applications from South African residents in the third sales phase when compared to the earlier ticketing stages.
Apart from the host country, the USA led the ticketing standings for the third phase with 50 217 applications, followed by the UK (41 529), Australia (15 523), Mexico (14 804), Germany (14 647) and Brazil (10 767).
Increased interest was also noted in the neighbouring countries of South Africa – Botswana leading with 2 519 ticket applications, followed by Mozambique (1 795) and Namibia (1 191).
The next ticketing sales phase will start on 9 February and end on 7 April. During these 58 days, more than 400 000 tickets will be made available on a first-come, first-served basis via www.fifa.com/2010 or in FNB branches (in South Africa only).
From 15 April onwards, ticketing centres will be open in each host city (with two in Johannesburg) where fans will be able to buy tickets over the counter and also collect their confirmed tickets.
To further enhance the service, ticketing call centres will be open during the fourth sales phase – both internationally and in the host country. The call centres will assist fans with enquiries and applications. The hotline number for international customers is 00 41 44 583 2010, and for domestic customers 083 123 2010.
For residents of the host country, the allocation of category 4 tickets (the most affordable, for South African residents only – starting from US$20/R140) will, as planned, increase significantly.
Source: Fifa.com