Pretoria - South African soccer fans will be able to buy world cup tickets over the counter from April, football governing body FIFA and the Local Organising Committee confirmed on Wednesday.
The decision was taken at an executive meeting of the FIFA ticketing committee in Zurich this week.
BuaNews reported a week ago that the LOC was considering requesting FIFA to simplify the process of acquiring tickets for the tournament. At the time, LOC Chief Executive Officer Danny Jordaan said he was confident that FIFA would agree to the request.
At the moment, tickets can be bought by filling in application forms at First National Bank (FNB) branches or fans can apply for tickets online.
The process has elicited an outcry from football fans who complained that it was too complicated to secure tickets for Africa's first world cup tournament.
"We are happy now to say that ordinary South African will be able to get the tickets," Jordaan said during a media briefing.
Jordaan said indications in the last two weeks have been that there is a positive feedback from South Africans to buy the tickets.
"We are particularly happy with the support behind Bafana Bafana and the pick up in ticket sales over the past two weeks," he said.
FIFA has also decided to increase the number of category four tickets available for South Africans. Close to two million tickets have been sold so far with six matches oversubscribed.
US and UK are still toping the sales followed Australia, Mexico, Germany and Brazil respectively.
