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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

SKUKUZA — Lounging peacefully on the terrace, watching the elephants, leopards and antelopes gather at the watering hole.

That's how hundreds of football fans will relax in South Africa's Kruger National Park on "soccer safaris", after taking in World Cup matches in the nearby city of Nelspruit.



With 100,000 people, Nelspruit is among the smaller of the host cities and doesn't have enough accommodation for the fans expected to arrive here in June 2010.
So organisers are tapping resources in the tourist magnet of Kruger game park, less than a two-hour drive away.

"Any person who comes so close to Kruger would definitely come to see the game. You cannot miss it if you're that close to it, especially coming from Europe or Asia," said Stephen Nel, a manager at the Berg-en-Dal rest camp.

About 1.3 million tourists each year visit the park, which is about half the size of the Netherlands and has a highly developed network to accommodate guests.

During the World Cup, the camps of Skukuza, Berg-en-Dal and Pretoriuskop will host nearly 2,000 fans in search of South Africa's "Big Five" - elephants, buffalo, leopard, lions and rhinos.

FIFA partner responsible for accommodation, Match, is offering packages that include lodging, transport and safaris, which could mean pre-dawn drives to catch the animals at sun-up, twilight hikes, or dinner in the bush.

To allow the guests to see the football matches, Kruger is reworking its rules. The park currently closes at 18h00, and some games at Nelspruit's Mbombela stadium will only kick off two hours later.



Armed rangers will escort the fans back to their lodges and tents, "to protect them from lions, elephants and other dangerous animals," according to South African National Parks.

"They'll probably change the opening times of the restaurants as most of our guests would be for the World Cup," Nel added.

He said that the camp had welcomed guests from the Rugby World Cup in 1995, but that was on a smaller scale that what organisers expect in 2010.

The World Cup will be the biggest event ever held in this rural province, with Nelspuit building a 46,000-seat stadium for the occasion.



"Initially, there was a shortage of accomodation," said FS Siboza, operations manager for the city.

But he said the new guesthouses have opened in the city, and two other towns are helping to ensure enough beds are available during the tournament, he said.
The city expects new hotels will be built, while some homeowners plan to leave on vacation and to rent out their homes to the tourists.

Organisers are even considering creating tented campsites for visitors, spread around a 200-kilometre (125-mile) radius, including in neighbouring Swaziland and Mozambique.

FIFA wants to ensure that 55,000 rooms are available across the country during the World Cup. Right now there are 34,000, making Kruger's model an appealing option that could be expanded to other national parks.

The only requirement for the "soccer safaris" is that guests can actually see the matches. At Berg-en-Dal, they will be housed in simple cottages built in 1985, without televisions.

The camp is thinking about setting up a TV in a conference room so the fans can watch games in other towns... if they find generators to keep the electricity running.

Labels: berg en dal, nelspruit, skukuza, 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

NELSPRUIT- Construction on the 43,500 seater Mbombela stadium in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga, has begun. The stadium is being built for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, and will host Group qualifying rounds of the tournament.

Earthworks have started at the stadium site, with the R920-million sports facility set to be ready for use by early 2009.



Construction companies Bouygues TP, a French contractor, and South African-based Basil Read, won the contract to build the stadium.

Speaking at the sod-turning ceremony in Nelspruit, Premier Thabang Makwetla said that the Mbombela stadium would become one of the finest sports and entertainment venues in the Mpumalanga province.

“The arrival of the Mbombela stadium will create major job opportunities for the people of Mbombela and other areas of our province. The hosting of major sports and entertainment events will contribute to major economic impact on the provincial tourism statistics,” the Premier said.

Executive Mayor Justice Nsibande said that the Mbombela stadium would be the perfect platform through which rising sports talent from Mbombela could be developed.



The multi-purpose stadium, which is expected to host key soccer and rugby matches, will be equipped with conference facilities as well.

The pylons of the stadium will be giraffe-like in style and the interior décor of the complex will include trees, which are characteristic of the Mpumalanga province.

The presidential suite will be able to host 500 dignitaries with 10 VIP suites.

The media centre will be able to accommodate 620 journalists.

Labels: nelspruit, world cup