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JOHANNESBURG - Tickets for the final and the semi-finals of the 2010 football World Cup in South Africa next year have sold out, the world football body FIFA announced on Thursday.

Tickets for the opening game between South Africa and a yet-to-be-decided opponent in Johannesburg on June 11 have also sold out, as have tickets for all World Cup games in the cities of Cape Town, Nelspruit and Pretoria, FIFA said.

The second phase of ticket sales for the month-long tournament kicked off on May 4 on a first-come-first-served basis.

FIFA said there had been "incredible demand for individual match tickets".

In total, since tickets first went on sale in February, some 655,000 tickets for individual games have been sold, FIFA's spokeswoman in South Africa, Delia Fischer, said.

Fans can also buy team-specific ticket series to follow the team of their choice.
If their chosen team gets knocked out, the fan automatically follows the winning team at each state - right up to the final for fans who buy a seven-game team-specific ticket.

Sales of the team-specific ticket series have been brisk, with the England, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, Ireland and Netherlands series having already sold out, FIFA said in a statement.

Fans from those countries still have a chance to see their team in action by buying individual match tickets, although the match schedule will not be known until the final World Cup draw in December.

FIFA also pointed out that fans could also still try to obtain tickets for the opening match, semi-finals or final by buying a seven-game team-specific series to follow a country that has not sold out.

In less than three weeks, South Africa will host the Confederations Cup, which is held every four years in the World Cup host nation a year beforehand.

Brazil, the United States, Italy, Spain, Egypt, South Africa, New Zealand and Iraq will compete in the two-week event, which is seen as a test of South Africa's preparedness to host the World Cup.

Tickets are still available for several of those games, including the highly-anticipated Brazil-Italy encounter, FIFA said.

Labels: 2010, mbombela, nelspruit, world cup

Be quick and you should be lucky! The 2nd Ticketing Phase for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ will start on Monday, 4 May 2009, at Noon (SA Time). There will be approximately 100,000 tickets made available for this phase, excluding the two Semi-Finals and the Final (matches 61, 62 and 64).

From now on, the tickets will be allocated on a “first come, first served” basis. Applications can be made at FNB branches or via the FIFA website (www.fifa.com).

For South African football fans who wish to apply at FNB Branches, they should bring a valid form of identification. South Africans need to show their ID, while a passport will be required for foreigners.

Applicants that wish to make applications for friends or family should have the details of those persons including identity numbers, names, dates of birth and nationality ready. Each applicant can apply for up to 4 tickets per match and up to 7 matches in total.

Ticket prices start at 20 USD (140 ZAR). Within ten working days you will be notified as to whether if your application is successful (fully or partly) or not.

Tickets will be ready for collection at FIFA Venue Ticketing Centres from May 2010.

We look forward to welcoming you and your guests to the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ South Africa and hope you enjoy the experience.

Yours sincerely

2010 FIFA World Cup™ Ticketing Centre

Labels: 2010, football, soccer, world cup

JOHANNESBURG- South Africa had exceeded its target revenue commitments for the 2010 Soccer World Cup by $500 million (R3.6 billion) and the excess was expected to reach $1 billion, Danny Jordaan, the chief executive of the 2010 local organising committee, said last week.

Revenue commitments had already reached $3.5 billion compared to the targeted $3 billion, Jordaan said at a meeting to review preparations for the World Cup.

"We may reach $4 billion given the indication of more commercial partners."

Companies have already invested up to $150 million in the event.

Jordaan said South Africa's business perspective was to secure all of its revenue for the next four years.

He said the greatest challenge facing the country in preparation for the World Cup was the provision of infrastructure.

In this year's budget, the government had allocated R17.4 billion to improve the efficiency of public transport and building of stadiums ahead of the tournament.

The other challenge was the scarcity of match tickets.

Jordaan said there would be about 3 million tickets available to the expected 350 000 tourists and fans in the entire country.

"If we are lucky, we [South Africans] can get 1 million tickets," he said.

Jordaan said the major problem with tickets was not price but availability. Therefore, fan parks were proposed around host stadiums in nine cities, in other African countries and abroad.

New build stadia include the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit.



Some of the challenges included visitors' accommodation, transport and logistics.

Adam Brown, the organising committee's senior executive manager of match events, said the issues were based on capacity, as there was not enough accommodation for visitors.

"There are about 55,000 rooms required for the World Cup," Brown said. He said there were 25,000 rooms contracted from hotels, with 19,000 contracted back in 2003, when the World Cup bid was announced.

"We have also signed a memorandum of understanding with SANParks for the Kruger National Park to commit between 2,500 and 3,000 rooms from their lodges and bed and breakfast facilities" said Brown.

He said there were about 1,500 bed and breakfasts contracted across the country.

The majority of the rooms would come from hotels but they "are expecting about 35,000 rooms from hotels and the rest from lodges and B&Bs", he said.

Southern Sun's managing director, Helder Pereira, said the hotel had sold 74 percent of its 12 000 rooms to world football body Fifa for the World Cup. However, 2009 would be more demanding than 2010 for the South African hospitality industry.

"There will be huge accommodation requirements in 2009: the British Lions tour, the FIFA Confederations Cup as well as the elections."

Labels: 2010, development, nelspruit, sport, world cup