FIFA Expands Cat 4 World Cup Tickets

March 5 - South African soccer fans who may have been despairing that they will be left out of the World Cup soccer action due to the high price of tickets, have been given some hope by FIFA and the 2010 Local Organizing Committee.

The two groups announced this week that they were increasing the number of Category 4 tickets from 11% to 29%.

Category 4 are tickets that are set aside exclusively for South Africans, and are the cheapest available.

Originally FIFA allocated 11% to this category but soon saw the need to increase the number by more than double.

The soccer organization also faced pressure from trade unions and South African fans for limiting the number.

"We have increased the allocation of Category 4 tickets from the initial 11 per cent to a new figure of 29 percent," said the Chief Executive Officer of the Local Organizing Committee, Danny Jordaan.

"We want this World Cup to be truly African, hence our latest move is meant to ensure that more of the cheapest match tickets are made available to ordinary fans, who cannot afford any other category tickets."

As a result of this increase, a further 700,000 South Africans seeking affordable World Cup tickets will be able to purchase them in the next phase when it opens next month.

To cover the increase in terms of numbers, Jordaan said that tickets from Categories 2 and 3 had been decreased.

"With the huge challenge of high levels of poverty and unemployment still facing South Africa - a host country for the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup - we believe that the price ticket reduction will go a long way in ensuring affordability," said a spokesman for the ANC which welcomed FIFA's decision. "While we are fully behind the success of South Africa's hosting of the FIFA World Cup - the first in an African soil - we have been concerned about whether many local fans will afford to pay for the tickets."

Tell A Friend