Another 1 million World Cup tickets go on general sale

Cape Town - The third ticketing phase for the 2010 World Cup was launched by FIFA Saturday with another 1 million tickets for next year's finals in South Africa going on general sale. Approximately 680,000 tickets have so far been sold to the general public for the 64 matches in the 10 World Cup venues situated in nine host cities.

"This is a huge amount," Horst Schmidt, chairman of the FIFA's ticketing sub-committee told a press conference in Cape Town, a day after the draw for the 2010 finals.

"We are confident that our promotional activities will be a huge success."

Fans have until January 22 to apply for individual match tickets or team-specific series but a fourth sales phase will commence on February 9, followed by a final "last-minute" offer.

However, Schmidt warned fans against waiting until the final moment to purchase tickets.

"There are tickets also available last-minute but the question is what tickets and for what matches," he said.

Schmidt also revealed that 2000,000 seats have been reserved for the hospitality sector, but while he believed the World Cup would be "attractive for international demand" he also accepted the global economic crisis would take its toll on corporate sales.

"Personally I don't believe we need this full allocation for hospitality," said Schmidt, adding that any unsold tickets would then be released for general sale.

Prices for group matches range from 20 dollars to 160 dollars for the opening match on June 11 between South Africa and Mexico at Soccer City in Johannesburg.

Tickets for the final on July 11 at the same venue will range from 100 to 600 dollars.

Category 4 tickets, the most affordable, have been exclusively set aside for South African residents.

Also, the member associations of the 32 qualified will be allocated 12 per cent of all purchasable tickets in the stadiums where their three group games will be played.

There are approximately 3.7 million tickets for the tournament but almost a third will be snapped up by sponsors and FIFA members.