Slow Take Up Of World Cup Tickets In Zimbabwe

A total of 117 589 tickets were sold to 119 countries.  The bulk of the tickets – 99 042 – have been sold to South African residents (corresponding to 84 %).  About 11 500 applications are still being processed.  The fourth ticket sales started on February 9.

Delia Fischer, of the FIFA Communications and Publics Affairs Division  told Radio VOP that 34 tickets were sold to Zimbabwe.

The office could not give the reasons for the low sales. 

However most Zimbabwe could be reeling from the economic hardships.

The prices for group matches, range from US 20 to US 160 (opening match: US 70 – USD 450 and final: US$ 150 – US 900). The category 4 tickets, the most affordable, have been exclusively set-aside for South African residents.

Applications are dealt on a “first come, first serve basis”. Apart from South Africa, the countries with the most tickets sold in the fourth phase are: USA 4 327, UK 1 964, Mexico 1 898, Australia 1 231 and Germany 1 193.

Since last Tuesday, a total of 110 583 individual match tickets have been sold, as well as 7 006-team specific series tickets. More than 400 000 tickets were made available for the fourth ticketing sales phase.  Two million tickets have been sold after three of five ticketing sales phases.

Meanwhile the ANC has welcomed FIFA’s decision to cut prices for South African fans, a spokesperson said on Saturday.

Brian Sokutu called the decision to cut 30% of the tickets in Category 2 and 3 “a step in the right direction”.

“With the huge challenge of high levels of poverty and unemployment still facing South Africa we believe the ticket price reduction will go a long way in ensuring affordability,” he said.

“While we are fully behind the success of South Africa 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.”

FIFA announced this week tickets would be re-categorised and the number of seats in Category 4, the cheapest tickets available, would be increased.

Tickets for Category 2 and 3, which cost up to R840 will now be sold to South Africans for only R140.

“Having just emerged from the global economic recession, which has adversely affected several industries and thousands of workers, the fact that one in four adults seeking work is unemployed and almost half our young people have not found work, paints a negative picture,” said Sokutu. Radio VOP/SAPA