The first eight hours of the fifth and last sales phase saw a huge demand for 2010 FIFA World Cup Tickets. Over 53,000 tickets were sold within this period at the 600 FNB branches countrywide and the 11 ticketing centres in the host cities.
At 16:00 SA time, tickets for a total of 23 matches were no longer available, including the opening game, the final and the two semi-finals.
Due to the high demand in the opening hours of over-the-counter sales at both the ticketing centres and FNB branches, the integrated computer system of FIFA’s official service provider, MATCH, experienced delays that caused inconvenience to the thousands of fans queuing for tickets countrywide.
“We want to extend our apologies to the general public who tried to obtain tickets, and we want to thank them for their patience and understanding. We have already been able to identify the challenges,” emphasises Jaime Byrom, the CEO of MATCH, FIFA’s official ticketing service provider.
The chairman of the FIFA ticketing sub-committee, Horst R. Schmidt commented: “90 per cent of the ticket requests were done at the 600 FNB branches, and we appreciate their work and cooperation even when under enormous pressure.”
The integrated ticketing system, which manages all sales channels, including ticketing centres, FNB branches, online sales and call centre sales, is being continually improved to avoid any future inconvenience, according to the statement.
