Tickets for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa will go on sale early next year, tournament organizers said Thursday. They will be sold in phases, with some available when qualification for the 32-team tournament is complete in late 2009.
The first batch of tickets will be sold in host cities, at airport terminals and online. “End-January next year [2009] we will begin selling the World Cup tickets,” Leslie Sedibe, legal manager of the 2010 Local Organizing Committee, told Reuters.
Around 3.1 million tickets will be made available for purchase, with prices starting at $20 (around 160 rand), and soccer’s world governing body FIFA has promised these tickets will be sold exclusively to South African residents. It is also planning to distribute around 120,000 free tickets to South Africans.