Online requests for FIFA 2010 tickets on the increase

Organisers of the 2010 soccer world Cup, FIFA, said they had received more than 290 000 online requests for tickets.

During the first week of the Second Phase of the Ticketing Sales for the event, a total number of 297 188 requests were received.

This included 162 844 requests for Individual Match Tickets and 134 344 for Team Specific Ticket Series.

“A total number of 112 616 tickets have been requested by South Africans. However, the highest demand of tickets in other countries came from the United States (US) (44 004 tickets) and in the UK (32 413).

Applications for the second phase can be made until 16 November 2009 via the FIFA website (www.fifa.com) or at First National Bank (FNB) branches.

On the other hand, sales of tickets for the FIFA Confederation Cup to be held this June in South Africa have been disappointing. Analysts and FIFA officials have ascribed this to the poor marketing and promotion of the Confederation Cup competition, particularly in South Africa.

FIFA said tickets will be allocated on a “first come, first serve” basis. Each applicant can apply for up to four tickets per match and up to seven matches in total.

Mthulisi Sibanda