By Duncan Mackay in Johannesburg
November 27 – There will be a rush for tickets to watch the 2010 World Cup in South Africa after the draw has been made in Cape Town next week, the head of the local organising committee, predicted here today.
Danny Jordaan, the chief executive of South Africa 2010, said that he was not concerned that so far only 20 per cent of the tickets available for the tournament had been sold with less than 200 days to go until opening kick-off.
He is anticipating a major rush when fans find out who and where their team at the draw next Friday (December 4) will be playing and is confident that all three million tickets will be sold.
So far only 671,000 have been brought but claimed that was ”satisfactory” and he scoffed at suggestions that organisers would need to give tickets away to help fill the stadiums.
Jordaan said: “There should not be questions of free tickets.
“Those don’t exist.
“If you start talking about free tickets, you’re implying that there will be some left, which I really doubt.”
The only tickets that will be given away are the 120,000 set aside for World Cup infrastructure construction workers and FIFA charities, Jordaan said.
But Jordaan did express some concern that South Africa’s team were proving a disappointing attraction and that so few “team specific”
Jordaan seemed more perturbed by the fact that not enough “team specific” tickets were being purchased for Bafana Bafana matches.
He said: ”If this is to be an African World Cup, it must be seen in the stadiums themselves.
“If we look at the race for tickets right now, it’s not going to be the case.
“We would like to see better participation locally and throughout the continent.”
The most popular teams so far were Brazil and England, Jordaan said.
He said: ”Brazil and England sell themselves.
“Our people are not buying the tickets of our own team.
“They want to watch Brazil and England, so we must encourage our people to follow our team.
“We want South Africans to buy tickets to support our team and other African teams.”
The forthcoming third phase of ticket sales will be the last chance for fans to purchase tickets across all four price categories and for all 64 matches – unless there are tickets left over.
After the third phase, FIFA will make tickets left over available on a first-come-first-served basis
Jordaan said: “There is no point in us waiting 100 years for an event to come to the country, and then wait another 100 years to make purchases.
“There has never been, and will never be, another World Cup as cheap.”
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