The third ticketing sales phase for the 2010 FIFA World Cup has seen the number of Tickets applied for hit the 500,000 mark within the first ten days. 386,300 of those tickets were requested by South African residents ( 77 % of the total applications). 114,237 tickets applied for came from the rest of the world.

At the moment, USA leads the list of foreign countries for this sales phase with 22,942 tickets, followed by the UK (20,232), Mexico (7,981), Germany (7,697) , Australia (6,277) and Brazil (4,760).

In total applications from 166 countries have been received (the figures do not include the participating member associations allocated ticket sales).

“In comparison with the previous editions of the FIFA World Cups, the latest ticket applications figures are impressive,” comments Horst R. Schmidt, Chairman of the FIFA Ticketing Sub-Committee.

“The number of domestic applications have increased significantly. By buying a ticket, South Africans buy not only a seat to watch a match, but also their spot in South African history”, added Danny Jordaan, Chief Executive Officer of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee South Africa.

Applications for individual match tickets or Team-Specific Series can be made via www.FIFA.com/2010. South African residents have an option to apply for tickets at FNB branches across the country.

The current third Ticket Sales Phase will run until 22 January 2010. In total about one million tickets for all 64 matches and categories are made available in the third sales phase – including a limited number for the opening match and the final. Please note, all applications within the sales phase will be treated equally. In an event of over-subscribed matches or (price) categories, there will be an electronic random selection draw on 1 February 2010.

The prices for group matches range from USD 20 to USD 160 (opening match: USD 70 - USD 450; final: USD 150 – USD 900) or ZAR 140 to ZAR 1,120 (opening match: ZAR 490 – ZAR 3,150; final: ZAR 1,050 – ZAR 6,300). The category 4 tickets, the most affordable, have been exclusively set aside for South African residents.

Moreover, all 32 participating member associations have started to sell their allocated Team specific Tickets (12 % of all purchasable tickets in the stadiums for the three group games of the respective team).

These tickets are made available through specified websites operated by the respective federations. For this specific ticket sales process, applications close on 13 January 2010.