Johannesburg- FIFA World Cup tickets will be made available to the general public in a week's time when the fifth and final ticketing sales phase kicks off, said FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke on Friday.
The official 2010 FIFA World Cup ticket was unveiled by Valcke and Local Organising Committee CEO Danny Jordaan at Maponya Mall in Soweto.
Five different sales channels will operate during the final sales phase, which will run from April 15 to the last day of the tournament, July 11. This will coincide with the opening of the FIFA World Cup ticketing centres in all nine host cities and the start of the over-the-counter sales.
In all, 500 000 tickets for 63 matches, except the final, will be made available.
"For this last phase, we have made a big effort to assist football fans by introducing various additional means to purchase a ticket.
"We are commited to facilitating the process for all fans and giving them this last chance to attend the matches and experience the excitement of this first World Cup in Africa," said Valcke.
Eleven ticketing centres in all host cities will open at 9am until 6pm, seven days a week. Fans applying at the ticketing centres will be required to display their Identity Documents and pay by credit card or cash.
Approximately 600 First National Bank branches nationwide will open five days a week from 9am. However, the actual tickets would need to be collected at the FIFA Ticketing Centres or at Shoprite/ Checkers sales points.
Tickets can also be purchased through FIFA's official website, FIFA.com, from 6pm as well as through the Call Centre Hotline on 083 123 2010 for South African residents or 0041445832010 for international residents.
Eighteen Shoprite/Checkers sales points will open seven days a week from 9am on April 19.
Jordaan said they were excited about the new initiatives, which would make the process much easier for everyone.
"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," he said.
A total of 240,000 tickets were sold in the fourth phase, 85 percent of which went to South African residents.
A total of 2.2 million tickets have been sold for the tournament. Of these tickets, 925 437 have been obtained by South Africans, 118,945 by the United States of America, 67,654 by the United Kingdom, 32, 269 by Germany, 29, 657 by Australia and 16,001 by Canada.
