Despite complaints about access and complicated online processes, the 2010 Local Organising Committee (LOC) says it will only introduce over-the-counter ticket sales in April.
Organisations such as the SA Football Supporters Association have called for the immediate opening of over-the-counter sales, saying more needed to be done to cater for fans without access to the Internet and the unbanked population in the country.
However, the LOC says it is satisfied with the levels of access to tickets and over-the-counter sales would only be introduced in the final sales phase.
Three ticketing phases have ended, with the third phase closed on 22 January. The fourth ticketing phase will start on 9 February and end on 7 April. More than 400 000 tickets will be made available on a first-come-first-serve basis through First National Bank (FNB) branches and the Fifa Web site.
The final phase will be for the last 500 000 tickets. This will start on 15 April and end on 11 July, with tickets being made available on a first come, first served basis.
LOC CEO Danny Jordaan says that, while South Africans were slow at purchasing tickets, they were responsible for 79% of the 1.2 million applications for tickets in the third phase of sales. This indicated the current tickets sale methods were successful and appealing to locals, says Jordaan.
In the third phase of ticket sales, 958 381 of the 1 206 865 applications received were from South Africans. After local fans, Americans applied for 50 217 tickets, followed by the UK, with 41 529 applications. More than 15 000 tickets were requested by Australians, while Mexico came in fifth, with 14 804 applications, followed by Germany, with 14 647 requests, and Brazil, with 10 767 applications.
While the LOC and Cabinet previously raised concerns over the slow application process, Jordaan noted he had taken lessons from last year's Confederations Cup into account.
The eight-country tournament, which was held in June last year, experienced slow ticket sales. More than 300 000 tickets had yet to be sold with less than a month to go until the kick-off and Fifa decided to open ticketing stations to improve sales.
Within 24 hours of all four ticketing centres opening, about 18 000 tickets were sold. More than 640 000 tickets had been made available for the event, but only 340 000 were sold through the Fifa Web site and FNB branches before May 2009.
Fifa says ticketing stations for the 2010 Soccer World Cup will be set up in each host city and fans will have to produce their IDs and cash or credit cards to buy their ticket.
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