Fourth World Cup ticket sale starts

Johannesburg, Feb 9 (DPA) More tickets for the football World Cup in South Africa went on sale Tuesday – with a little over four months to go to kick-off on June 11.

Around one-third of the around 3 million tickets available for the tournament are still up for grabs following three rounds of ticket sales since last year.

More than 400,000 tickets are on offer in this fourth of five phases, which begins at midday Central European Time and runs until April 7 on a first-come, first-served basis.

World Cup organizing body FIFA appears anxious to boost sales to South Africans and Africans, to ensure the first Cup on the African continent has a strong African participation.

The cheapest category four tickets, which begin at $20, have been reserved for South African residents. The cheapest tickets for other spectators, including fans from the rest of Africa, are four times that.

So far, of the 1,232,000 tickets sold publicly (a figure that excludes tickets sold through tour operators, football federations, etc), South Africans have bought 797,990.

While no single figure is available from FIFA for sales in the rest of Africa, which accounts for six of the 32 World Cup teams, sales figures for individual African countries show take-up has been sluggish.

Tickets are available over the internet at www.fifa.com or in First National Bank branches for South African residents.