FIFA fear empty stadiums at World Cup in South Africa

April 9 – South Africa World Cup organisers say 500,000 tickets are unsold and fear “tragic” empty stadiums at the sport’s showcase event.

FIFA said the tickets would go on general sale in South Africa over the counter at 11 centres as well as at supermarkets and banks next week.

There will then be less than two months to sell nearly a quarter of the total tickets to avoid empty seats.

“I think today there is one challenge we definitely have to work on,” FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke said.

“It’s to make sure all the stadiums are full and that we are selling all these tickets.”

Organisers conceded the initial on-line process was not suited to local fans, who are generally poor, do not have credit cards and are not used to buying tickets on the internet.

“If we have empty stadiums, it will reinforce the idea that football is not supported in the country and that would be tragic,” South Africa 2010 chief executive Danny Jordaan said.

“The reality is that this is a football-mad country.”

Organisers went to Soweto to show the official match ticket, which has bar-codes to stop forgery and combat black market selling.

But the biggest problem is that not enough people are buying tickets.

“For this last phase, we have made a big effort to assist football fans by introducing various additional means to purchase a ticket,” said Valcke.

“We are committed to facilitating the process for all fans and giving them this last chance to attend the matches and experience the excitement of this first World Cup in Africa.”

FIFA said 2.2 million tickets had been bought ahead of the final phase of selling.

South Africa fans had bought the most (925,437), followed by the United States (118,945).

But just 67,654 tickets have been sold in Britain, less than the number of fans who typically attend a Manchester United home game.

Germany has bought only 32,269.

FIFA did not say how many tickets were returned from partners and affiliates.

The global economic climate and safety fears may have played a part in the disappointing foreign sales, but FIFA admitted it had made mistakes with local fans.

“We are excited about these new initiatives, which make the process much easier for everyone,” said Jordaan.

“We have always said that it is important that we make this World Cup more accessible to the people and with the over-the-counter sales, we believe this measure is consistent with the needs of the fans.”