Booking for the 2010 World Cup to be staged in South Africa opens on February 2 next year, it was announced in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
Tickets will be sold via a system designed to prevent black-market sales and make more tickets available to soccer fans, said the chairperson of the Fifa subcommittee in charge of ticketing, David Will.
Fifa will allow only applications for four tickets per customer, for no more than seven matches at a time. Previously tickets could be bought in bulk, leaving the door open to black-market operators.
The world soccer body expects ticket sales to be over-subscribed, which means they will be allocated by random draws.
Fifa has not yet decided on ticket prices, but Will stressed that the cheapest seats will be affordable to ordinary South African supporters.
Jaime Byrom, CEO of Match, the company responsible for the allocation of tickets for the 2010 World Cup and 2009 Confederations Cup, said: ”It is a simple ticketing system we have devised, which we have adapted to the South African market.
”It was not specifically done to cut out the threat of the parallel market, but we believe the new system will restrict getting tickets on the black market for the 2010 World Cup.”
There will be five phases of ticket sales for the 2010 showpiece.
The first phase of ticket applications, starting on February 2 next year, will close on March 31. A random computerised draw will take place on April 15 and successful applicants for the tickets would get an official ticket receipt. This receipt will not be considered a ticket.
Explained Will: ”The supporter, on arrival in South Africa, will be able to collect his ticket through a dedicated venue.” These will be located in the nine host cities and at the OR
Tambo International, Durban and Cape Town airports.
The process also caters for those fans who have no credit card or access to the internet.
Applications for last-minute sales will start on April 15 and end on July 11.
South Africans will be able to buy tickets in rand and not dollar — the currency for tickets sales for the rest of the world. Fifa and the 2010 local organising committee (LOC) will agree on a fixed exchange rate for South African fans.
Said Will: ”It makes good economic sense not to force South African fans to pay in dollars and fixing the exchange rate. At the end of the day the ticket sales benefit the LOC.”
He added that he and his committee believe that the majority of requests for the three million tickets will come from South Africa.
Will also said: ”We are selling tickets to recognised fan clubs of countries and sporting bodies where we have control over who buys those tickets.”
Every member association will be able to buy only 700 tickets per match. For example, the South African Football Association will buy these tickets and then distribute them to officials, sponsors and family members of players, but will not be allowed to sell them.
More details on ticket sales will be announced by Fifa in the near future. — Sapa