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2010 World Cup tickets made easy

12 April 2010

Half-a-million tickets for the 2010 Fifa World Cup™ go on sale from Wednesday, when the fifth and final round of ticket sales for the tournament kicks off, coinciding with the opening of ticketing centres in all nine South African host cities and the start of the over-the-counter sales.

Unveiling the official World Cup ticket at Maponya Mall in Soweto outside Johannesburg on Friday, Fifa secretary-general Jérôme Valcke said that, for the last sales phase, "we have made a big effort to assist football fans by introducing various additional means to purchase a ticket".

In all, 500 000 tickets for 63 matches - including all knock-out matches except the final - will be made available.

Tickets will be available from 15 April through to the last day of the tournament (11 July) via five different sales channels:

• The official tournament website www.fifa.com.
• The World Cup call centre hotline, open seven days a week from 8am to 10pm: 083 123 2010 (from within South Africa) or 0041445832010 (international).
• 11 ticketing centres across South Africa's nine host cities, open seven days a week from 9am to 6pm. Fans will have to show an ID document. Check the ticketing centre locations.
• 18 Shoprite/Checkers sales points, open seven days a week. Fans will have to show an ID document. Check the sales point locations.
• About 600 FNB branches across South Africa, open five days a week. Here, fans can order tickets, make payment and get ticket confirmation immediately. However, the actual tickets will need to be collected either from one of the 11 Fifa ticketing centres or from one of the 18 Shoprite/Checkers sales points.

"We are excited about these new initiatives, which make the process much easier for everyone," Organising Committee CEO Danny Jordaan said on Friday. "We have always said that it is important that we make this World Cup more accessible to the people, and with the over-the-counter sales, we believe this measure is consistent with the needs of the fans."

A total of 240 000 tickets were sold in the fourth phase, 85% of which went to South African residents. Overall, 2.2-million tickets have been sold for the tournament.

SAinfo reporter