Pretoria - The third ticketing sales of the 2010 FIFA World Cup has hit the 500 000 mark within the first ten days.
A total of 386 300 of the tickets were bought by South African soccer fans, while the remaining 114 237 were bought by fans from all over the world.
Presently, the USA is leading the list of foreign countries for the sales phase with 22 942 tickets, followed by the UK 20 232, Mexico 7 981, Germany 7 697, Australia 6 277 and Brazil 4 760.
In total, ticket applications from 166 countries have been received and the figures do not include the participating member associations allocated ticket sales.
Horst Schmidt, Chairman of the FIFA Ticketing Sub-Committee said: "In comparison with the previous editions of the FIFA World Cups, the latest ticket application figures are impressive."
Danny Jordaan, Chief Executive Officer of the 2010 FIFA World Cup said the number of domestic applications had increased significantly.
"By buying a ticket, South Africans are not only buying a seat to watch a match, but also their spot in South African history," he said.
Applications for individual match tickets or Team-Specific Series can be made via www.FIFA.com/2010.
South African residents have an option to apply for tickets at FNB branches across the country. The current third Ticket Sales Phase will run until 22 January 2010.
In total, about one million tickets for all 64 matches and categories are made available in the third sales phase including a limited number for the opening match and the final.
All applications within the sales phase will be treated equally. In an event of over-subscribed matches or price categories, there will be an electronic random selection draw on 1 February 2010.
The prices for group matches range from $20 to $160 (opening match: $70 - $450; final: $150 - $900) or R140 to R1 120 (opening match: R490 - R3 150; final: R1 050 - R6 300).
The category 4 tickets, the most affordable, have been exclusively set aside for South African residents.
All 32 participating member associations have started to sell their allocated Team-Specific Tickets which are 12 percent of all purchasable tickets in the stadiums for the three group games of the respective team.
These tickets are made available through specified websites operated by the respective federations. For this specific ticket sales process, applications close on 13 January 2010.
