On sale: How to get your hands on 2010 FIFA World Cup tickets

South Africans, Africans and the world will be able to get their hands on these prized tickets online at FIFA.com and at all First National Bank (FNB) branches from Friday.

The tickets, as promised, will be affordable for all South Africans, starting at R140. They will be officially available from the FIFA.com website from 1pm local time.

Apply for tickets at FNB

FIFA and the Local Organising Committee (LOC) have made it possible to apply for tickets from FNB branches too because many South Africans do not have access to the internet.

Members of the public will be required to fill out an application form, giving certain personal information including Identity Document numbers or passport numbers, nationality, residential addresses, as well as fax and e-mail addresses.

The applicant will know within 10 days whether their application has been approved.

Match day vs team play

The public have a choice of two types of categories - depending on whether you are interested in attending only a certain match or whether you want to watch your favourite team playing.

A match ticket is bought for a single match on a particular day which has to be indicated on the form, while the team specific ticket allows a person to follow a national team of their choice around.

If the team is eliminated but that person still has more matches available on their ticket, then they will have the option to follow a different team that progresses through to the next stage of the World Cup.

Categories

Tickets are available in four categories. Category one includes tickets for the best seats at the different stadia, while category four tickets are the most affordable ticket. Category four are exclusively available to South African citizens.

Ticket Prices have been fixed to R7 to the US Dollar, and therefore Category 1 tickets range from $160 to $900, Category 2 tickets range from $120 to $600, Category 3 tickets range from $80 to $400 and Category 4 tickets range from $20 to $150.

All persons with disabilities can apply for Category 4 tickets.

The prices of the tickets is dependant on the category as well as whether the match is taking place during the group stages of the world cup, is either a qualifying round, opening or final match.

Approval

After completing a ticket application form, it then has to be handed over to an FNB teller who will then manually input the applicant's details and request for a ticket. Once the application has been confirmed, the applicant will then have to pay the teller for the tickets via cash or credit card.

Once payment has been received, the applicant will then be issued with a FNB Visa Official Mascot Prepaid Card reflecting the money paid for the tickets, which needs to be inserted into a ticket collection machine closer to the date of the match in order to have the tickets printed.

Ticket phases

Executive Co-chairman of FIFA's hospitality affiliate MATCH, Jaime Byrom, told media ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup ticketing launch on Wednesday, that ticketing will be carried out in five phases.

The first sales phase will begin from 20 February until 31 March 2009, and all oversubscribed matches and ticket products will be entered into a random selection draw which will take place on 15 April 2009.

The second sales phase will run from 4 May until 16 November 2009 on a first-come-first-served basis with applications processed in the order they are received.

The third phase is a random selection draw phase running from 5 December 2009 until 22 January 2010. The fourth sales phase is again run on a first-come-first-served basis between 9 February and 7 April 2010.

Last chance

The last minute sale phase, between 15 April and 11 July 2010, will see tickets that have become available due to unforeseen circumstances going on sale.

Chairman of the FIFA ticketing Sub-Committee and honorary FIFA Vice President David Will said 50% of the tickets available for the world cup will go to the general public while the rest will go to FIFA commercial partners, sponsors, the media, VIPs and others.

“It is always a balancing act between how many tickets are allocated to the domestic public and the international public,” he said.

South Africans have been warned to purchase their tickets as early as possible as the event will be massively oversubscribed.

Article published courtesy of BuaNews