Soccer: South Africa slow on tickets

The South African organisers of the 2010 World Cup have been ordered to boost local ticket sales or face accusations that they are only interested in attracting rich foreign football fans.

The warning from the world football body, Fifa, came as local organisers admitted that 80 per cent of applications for the 3 million tickets have come from outside the country.

"It is disappointing," said local chairman Danny Jordaan. "If the random draw for phase one tickets was to take place now, 750,000 tickets would go overseas and 500 would be left for South Africa. I urge all South Africans to buy tickets now."

The ticket application process is in five phases - the first of which ends on March 31. Each application phase culminates in a lottery, after which tickets are allocated. The system is further complicated by a two-tier pricing system, favouring South African fans.

But Fifa secretary-general Jerome Valcke said he was "astounded" not to see posters and promotions when he visited the country.

The South African Cabinet last week backed Fifa's warning, amid reports of abysmal sales for the Confederations Cup in three months' time. Only 170,000 out of 640,000 tickets have been sold for the cup, which is South Africa's warm-up for 2010. It features world champions Italy, and Spain, Brazil, New Zealand, Iraq and the United States.

South African Government spokesman Thabo Maseko said that ministers would "interact" with local organising committee to review all marketing strategies. "Not enough money has been set aside to market these tournaments to South Africans," he said.

Since South Africa was awarded the World Cup in 2004, local organisers have hinted that their critics are anti-African. Some stadium projects have suffered delays, but all are expected to be ready on time. Massive Army and police deployments and a new public transport system are planned to counter fears of crime among the 450,000 fans Fifa hopes to attract.

"Many people are under the impression that tickets are only available to tourists," said brand expert Doug de Villiers. "God forbid that we watch the games on television and see empty stadiums."

Others say the process of applying for seats has not caught on, as South Africans until relatively recently bought tickets at the turnstiles on match day.

- OBSERVER