Tuesday, May 12, 2009

World Cup Tickets Goes on Sale

The 2010 Soccer World Cup is on its way. World Cup 2010 is going to be hosted by South Africa who is privileged to organize the great ceremony for the first time. World Cup football is scheduled from 11 June 2010 to 11 July 2010. As the event is announced the first thing came in minds of football crazy fans is that will I be the part of crowd? Will I be able to get the tickets?

World Cup Tickets :
For all the soccer fans good news is that around 3million tickets are available for the 64 matches, which start in June 2010. Tickets are always issue of concern for crazy fans and followers of football so this year in order to shun any shortage of tickets International Federation of Association Football has introduced a new and improved system for selling the 2010 World Cup tickets. It is said by the organizers of world cup that it would wholly boost the number of tickets accessible for legitimate football cohorts. David Will, the ticketing sub-committee chairman said that 50% of tickets fans would increase from countries qualifying for finals. And thus it is planned that 12% of the total stadium capacity would be reserved for fans of teams concerned in World Cup which was up to 8% less last time. This would be applied for first round only. In knockout phase percentage would be about 8 for these matches.

Tickets will be sold in different phases, first phase of World Cup tickets selling is already over. It ended in midnight on March 31 and was stared on 20 February 2009. The recorded applications in first phase were total 1,635,136. Roughly 30% of the applications came from the residents of South Africa and 70% came from the rest of the world.

Final match in Soccer City Stadium was most in demand for tickets along with the opening match. More than 50% applications were found to be team specific series. The whole phase completed evenly and there was no problem faced during the procedure. First selling phase was a success.

Ticket Selling Phases :
Tickets will be sold in phases. As first phase is already completed but some tickets will be available when qualifications matches of 32 teams will be finished in late 2009. The first batch of tickets was planned to be sold in host city. Venue chosen for this was at airport terminals and most of them were made available online. Application forms were made available online on official website along with the local branches of the First National Bank in South Africa. FNB is official event sponsors. Tickets will be available in three types of sales phases.

  • First Sales Phase: The random selection draw

    • 20 February 2009 to 31 March 2009

  • Second Sales Phase: The first come first served

    • May 2009 to 16 November 2009

  • Third sales phase:

    • 5 December 2009 to 22 January 2010

  • Fourth sales phase:

    • 9 February 2010 to 7 April 2010

  • Final / Last Minute sales phase:

    • 15 April 2010 to 11 July 2010

First Sales Phase : The Random Selection Draw:

In first sales phase Team Specific Tickets are made available that will be provided on random selection basis. Opening of first sales started on 20 February 2009. This phase was not restricted to first come fist serve basis instead each and every correctly filled application as considered for equal opportunity of being draw. It was estimated before five days of first phase ended that applications were one million in numbers. South Africa residents were excluded in this figure. Applications were received from more than 160 countries. United States, Britain showed their great interest.

Second sales phase : The first come first served
Availability of tickets would be of great concern during this phase so it would be make sure that tickets are given on first come first serve basis.

Third sales phase :
Second phase would take place on 1 February 2010. It would be going to have hybrid nature. All correctly filled applications would deserve for receiving tickets but if demand exceeds than availability of tickets then "first come first serve basis" formula will execute. 0. Please note: it makes no difference whether you apply early, on 5 December 2009, or late, on 22 January 2010. Each correctly submitted application will have the same opportunity of being successful in the draw.

Fourth Sales Phase :
Fourth phase again depends on the subject to availability so tickets would be sold on first come first serve basis in the order of application received.

Ticket Selling Rules :
Some rules for selling World Cup 2010 tickets are also specified.

1. One person can only apply for four tickets per match. That person is allowed to apply for seven matches maximum.

2. A person can not apply for two matching scheduled on the same day.

3. Those who are not residents of South Africa can apply through online at official website. Ticket application would be available download able version.

4. Residents of South Africa can apply thorough online at official website and ticket application form.
128 Countries Applied for 2010 World Cup Tickets:

Applications were received from 128 countries for more than 200,000 World Cup 2010 tickets.
South Africa, UK, United States, Germany, Brazil, Australia, Japan, Mexico, Canada, Switzerland, Ireland, Holland, Spain, and Argentina showed their interest more than rest of the world.

World Cup Ticket Price:
About 3.1 million tickets are likely to be sold for South Africa World Cup 2010 with a minimum price of $20 (11.25 pounds). Tickets price range varies. They are almost of prices range from $20 (£14) to $900 (£639), a drastic increase in the standard $1.50 (£1.05) to $2.50 (£1.75) supporters pay for entry to South African premier league matches.

Cost for most expensive ticket is 450 dollars, and will be paid for opening match. Category of this most expensive ticket is stadium stands - located alongside the pitch. Tickets for semi final costs 600 dollars while for final costs 900 dollars.

It's happening first time in the history that 120,000 discount tickets are announced for the residents of South Africa. Being the host country South Africa is blessed much in case of tickets. Also there is a good news for stadium construction workers because they the figure above include 40,000 free tickets for them. It is also declared by the governing body of FIFA that South African residents would be given tickets at cheapest price.

However South African residents obviously would love to watch matches on their television screens as they are privileged to host the event for the very first time.

Statistics : 2010 WORLD CUP IN NUMBERS

  • 3m tickets on sale - 450,000 for South African residents

  • Tickets range from $20 to $900

  • 64 matches

  • 32 teams

  • 10 stadiums in nine cities

  • 400,000 visitors expected

  • At least 400,000 visitors are expected in South Africa next year

Ticket Brokers :
A ticket broker is one who is making money on the basis of supply and demand. They artificially make small supply of tickets because tournament is always played on so many dates and there are always so many venues and seats accordingly. In this way they are able to grasp significant portion of supply in their own hands and charge almost ten times the original ticket price.

FIFA however are official sellers and does not encourage any ticket brokers, internet accusation or internet ticket agents and had established General Terms and Conditions for any unauthorized intermediate. FIFA has no official share of tickets for such intermediate and violators are subject to cancellation of ticket.

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