FIFA ups the cheap seats at S.Africa World Cup

World football body FIFA said on Saturday it has increased the number of cheapest World Cup tickets to get more South Africans into stadiums at Africa’s first World Cup during June and July.

According to the Johannesburg Saturday Star, FIFA slashed the price of at least 30 percent of category 2 and 3 tickets, which cost up to 840 rand (110 dollars/ 80 euros), to 140 rand.

“We made clear right from the start of ticketing that we aim to increase the number of Cat (category) 4 tickets to up to 20 percent,” FIFA said in a statement on Saturday.

“This does not affect the already sold tickets.”

FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke said this week that the football body was targeting 20 percent ticket sales to South Africans.

“We will increase the number of category four tickets because we cannot have a situation where the FIFA World Cup is in South Africa and people cannot see matches,” said Valcke.

FIFA on Saturday said the recategorisation meant that more tickets will be allocated to the cheapest category out of the seats currently available.

“It is not about dropping prices. The prices are not touched. The price for category 4 start at R140 for group games,” the organisation said.

“How many it will be is still to be decided in details.”

A total of 2.1 million tickets of 2.9 available have been sold for the tournament with seats at only 24 of 64 fixtures remaining.

South Africans have bought 898,170 tickets, followed by 121,190 in the United States and 98,056 in the United Kingdom.

Local fans had expressed unhappiness about the high cost of tickets and the rigid online application process, which has resulted in low sales in the country.

FIFA chief Sepp Blatter said this week he was worried ticket prices were scaring away fans for the world’s most watched sporting event and asked tour operators to cut costs to help fill South African stadiums.