South Africa Begins Sales of World Cup
Tickets
Thousands
of fans queued overnight at supermarkets and shopping malls in
South Africa, for a chance to buy the five hundred thousand
World Cup tickets.
The rush followed FIFA’s agreement to drop an earlier decision
that sales could only be made online or through a ballot
procedure.
There is still availability for all fixtures, including the
final at Soccer City in Johannesburg on eleven July.
Easier access
Many South Africans had complained the original process, by
which tickets were sold through FIFA's website or in a
complicated ballot at a local bank branch, excluded people
without web access, credit cards or the disposable income to pay
for their tickets months in advance.
World Cup 2010 boss, Danny Jordaan, said the decision to make
the World Cup more accessible to the people, with over the
counter sales has made the process of buying tickets much easier
for everyone.
Ticket prices are also well above normal for top-level football
in South Africa.
A special category for local residents sells at one hundred and
forty five rand but costs escalate drastically in higher
categories for better seats. After the first-round group phase,
prices for premier seats at the final swells to six thousand
five hundred and eighty-two rand.
Demand in South Africa had initially been sluggish but the most
recent phase saw eighty-five percent of the two hundred and
forty thousand tickets sold between February and the beginning
of April go to locals.
FIFIA has since revealed that two point two million tickets have
been sold for the tournament, which kicks off on eleven June.
Tragedy
While in a queue however, a sixty-four-year-old man died from an
apparent seizure as he waited in central Cape Town.
The tragedy in Cape Town occurred as fans from all over the
country started queuing from Wednesday afternoon as South
Africans rushed to get World Cup tickets.
Sandton, North Johannesburg has witnessed exuberant scenes,
where people camped out on the street through the night.
REUTER/Williams/Yinka
