2010 World Cup: How To Buy Tickets

After months of waiting, information as to how to buy tickets for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa has finally been made public by FIFA.

The first date you should be aware of is Feb. 20, 2009. Anyone who wants to attend the first-ever World Cup on African soil would do well to put this date in his or her diary.

This date marks the first of a total of five sales—phases will run from Feb. 20 to March 31, 2009, with tickets being allocated by a random selection draw for over-subscribed matches and ticket categories.

All applications entered in the first application window will then be entered into a random ballot on April 15, 2009.

There are two ways for fans to order tickets.

First, you can log on to FIFA.com, the official Web site of the 2010 World Cup where fans can sign up for the FIFA.com Club for free.

Those living in South Africa can also order tickets via the “FNB Visa Official Mascot Pre-paid card” available at First National Bank (FNB), by filling in an official application form and handing it in at one of the participating FNB branches around the country.

The “FNB Visa Official Mascot Pre-paid card” will be the unique ticket payment card for the fans who are successfully awarded tickets through the official paper application forms handed in at FNB branches in South Africa.

As well as individual tickets for the 64 matches, team-specific ticket series are also available for the country of your choice. These are valid for anything from three to seven games.

Tickets are available in three categories, with category four reserved exclusively for South African residents. The least expensive ticket in category three costs $80.

There will be four further sales periods for the World Cup, with the second running from May 4 to Nov. 16, 2009. During this period, tickets will be attributed based on the order in which the application is received and, of course, subject to availability.