2010 soccer world cup tickets

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Sepp Blatter, Fifa president said his organization should take over ticketing arrangements for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Blatter said in an interview published on Sunday it would have been better if soccer's world governing body had organized ticket sales for the 2006 World Cup, rather than host country Germany, after criticizing strict German controls.

"It would probably have been better if we had taken over the ticket sales. The Germans have chosen a system that I don't understand at all,"

Tickets are embedded with microchips and issued to individuals, who will face recognition scanners at the stadiums' turnstiles. Blatter thinks the system is too intricate, but organizers say it is for security reasons.

The 3.3 million tickets will be personalized, creating the threat of long queues at the stadiums with organizers planning checks if the person with the ticket is the person on the ticket. The idea is to eliminate stolen or counterfeit tickets, as well as keeping ticket brokers or others from inflating the price.

"I don't know how many meetings we've had about it. We're just not making any progress with the German Football Association," Blatter said. "I don't understand it. I distanced myself from it from the start, but in the end I'm guilty anyway. In South Africa 2010 we'll take over the ticketing again."

A lawsuit has been filed in Frankfurt by one ticket holder who bought his on eBay. World Cup organizers, who have warned that sales on Internet sites could turn out to be fraudulent, have refused to put his name on the ticket, making it unusable.

Source: News24

See Match for tickets

The pricing of tickets for the World Cup has not yet been determined but it would be cheaper than was the case at the World Cup in Germany last year, said SA Local Organising Committee (LOC) spokeswoman Tumi Makgabo.

A normal ticket in Germany was about R380, but there was a need for cheaper tickets.

An official LOC business opportunities conference is set to be held in Johannesburg next week, to be attended by a Fifa delegation led by the president, Sepp Blatter, and LOC representatives.

On stadiums, Makgabo told delegates that 99 new suites at the stadiums were to be sold for R1.2m each for a period of 10 years. "There is an increased demand for this, driven by the 2010 Fifa World Cup."

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Packages for the 2010 Fifa World Cup will go on sale in South Africa in June, for an average price of 1450, or R11391.

Match Hospitality’s chief operating officer, Pascal Portes, said: “We want to give priority to the domestic market. [Ticket] sales to the rest of the world will start in September through a network of appointed sales agents.”

Match Hospitality holds the hospitality rights for the Fifa Confederations Cup in 2009 and the World Cup in 2010.

Standard packages include a match ticket, coupled with hospitality services such as catering, parking, special access and entertainment.

A full hospitality package includes accommodation, transport and tours.

The five hospitality series packages are:

# A Big Six Series package, costing $1750 (R13784) that entitles the holder to watch matches in any of the big six stadiums around the country.

# The Gauteng Series, costing between $1400 (R10999) and $1750 (R13784), which will entitle spectators to watch matches at Loftus Versfeld, Ellis Park and Soccer City.

# The Venue Series, between $380 (R2985) and $1400 (R10999), will allow supporters to choose one stadium to watch all the games they want.

# A Follow Your Team Series package, priced between $1500 (R11784) and $1750 (R13784), means the holder can follow a team at any venue that they play.

# The Final Round Series for $3500 (R27497) to $6000 (R47139) for watching the World Cup final, semifinals and the quarterfinals.

Match Hospitality spokesman Peter Csanadi said: “These packages all include premium tickets to the games and supporters will not have to queue.”

Packages for the 64 matches in 10 different stadiums would cost the same price and be subject to the same terms and conditions worldwide.

The local organising committee boss Danny Jordaan said: “The key objectives of this programme are centered around tourism promotion and investment.”

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The prices and categories for tickets for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™, as elaborated by the ticketing sub-committee set up jointly by FIFA and the South African local organising committee (LOC), were approved by the Organising Committee for the FIFA World Cup, under the chairmanship of FIFA vice-president Issa Hayatou, at its meeting in Durban today.

Overall, the ticket prices for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ are comparable to 2006 prices with an average of USD 139 per ticket compared with USD 136 (adjusted for EUR to USD exchange rate conversion) in 2006. The ticketing proposal was elaborated jointly by FIFA and the South African LOC. The prices (cf. separate list), which range from USD 20 for a category 4 ticket for a group stage match to USD 900 for a category 1 ticket for the final, reflect FIFA’s positioning of the FIFA World Cup™ as a premium international sporting event, yet also take account of the South African market. In 2006, the cheapest ticket cost EUR 35 (approximately USD 51).

Category 4 tickets are to make up some 15% of the total inventory of an estimated 3 million purchasable tickets and will be sold exclusively to those living in South Africa. With these tickets, FIFA and the LOC intend to enable South African residents on low incomes to attend matches.

As well as being a premiere in terms of its setting on the African continent, the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ will also mark a first with a FIFA-initiated ticket fund consisting of tickets that will be distributed on a complimentary basis.

As part of the overall ticketing operation, 120,000 category 4 tickets will be allocated to this ticket fund, which will offer them on a complimentary basis to fans in South Africa so that they can witness the world’s largest single-sport event at first hand. The ticket fund will consist of a certain number of tickets for all matches, from the opening game right up to the final.

The tickets will be distributed free of charge by FIFA, the South African LOC and FIFA Partners adidas, Coca-Cola, Emirates, Hyundai/KIA, SONY and VISA to South African residents through a special programme that will form part of a social responsibility initiative and act as a “catalyst" for sustainable change.
David Will, the chairman of the ticketing sub-committee, expressed his satisfaction with the overall ticketing strategy: “Together with the South African local organising committee, not only have we managed to provide a low-price category and a well-balanced price range but also to innovate by creating a special ticket fund. These arrangements take account of the importance of the FIFA World Cup and cater at the same time for the needs of fans in South Africa.”

Local organising committee CEO Dr Danny Jordaan echoed these sentiments: “All South Africans contributed to bringing the FIFA World Cup to our country. So it is only befitting that we make tickets available to the ordinary fans at affordable prices.”

Tickets will go on sale in several phases, starting around the beginning of February 2009. As in the past, tickets that are not be bought by various stakeholders such as FIFA member associations will subsequently be put on sale to the general public.

The 32 participating member associations will be offered 12% of the purchasable tickets for each of their matches (previously 8%) in the group phase and an average of 8% in the knockout phases. While category 4 tickets will be sold exclusively to South African residents, tickets in categories 1, 2 and 3 will be sold on a worldwide basis, both on the international and domestic South African market. The ticket distribution system will be finalised at a later stage, with the internet playing a major but not an exclusive role. All transactions involving tickets in categories 1-3 will be payable in US dollars, those in category 4 in South African rand.

see http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/organis...ing/index.html