JOHANNESBURG - The last final phase of the sale of the 2010 FIFA World Cup will kick off this week with 500 000 tickets up for grabs. Organisers said the tickets will go on sale on April 15 and will be obtained over the counter at designated FIFA ticketing centres in South Africa.
FIFA secretary-general Jerome Valcke told THE ZIMBABWEAN: We want to give the world a picture of full stadiums, not a picture of empty seats, and this phase is the most important stage during which we will work hard to get South Africans and international people to come to the stadiums.
Valcke was speaking at Maponya Mall in Pimville, Soweto, at the unveiling of the 2010 World Cup ticket.
The yellowish’ ticket comprises features such as the day of game, date, venue, ticket holder’s full name, two bar codes (top and bottom), ticket price, entrance number, seat number and ticket category, among other details.
This ticket cannot be duplicated and anyone who attempts such a foolish action will be in serious trouble because of our mutual agreement with government to protect FIFA’s intellectual property, added Valcke.
He said tickets will be available from 15 April over the counter at FIFA ticketing centres and from 19 April at Shoprite Checkers sites nationwide.
The selling points will be open 9am-6pm for South Africans (category one, two, three and four) and 6pm-10pm for international residents (category one, two and three) because the fourth category is reserved for South Africans only.
From 15 April, soccer fans will in addition be able to pick up tickets already purchased through FNB branches and call centres, raise customer queries, transfer tickets and arrange for their tickets to be made available for resale.
Anyone who damages his or her ticket will lose out because lost tickets will not be replaced, but any ticket with a damaged bar code could be cleared at a special site near the stadium, provided that the holder produces some ID.
Already tickets for the final game are on the market.
Out of the 2.2 million tickets sold so far, SA leads with 925 437 tickets, followed by the US with 118 945, UK (67 654), Germany (32 269), Australia (29 657) and Canada (16 001).
Post published in: Football