JOHANNESBURG, April 28 - Half the tickets for the
FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa have been sold and
organisers are hopeful of a complete sellout before the
competition kicks off in June.
The organising committee said on Tuesday around 320,000 of
the 640,000 tickets had been sold via the Internet and through
local banks.
The June 14-28 tournament, which will feature eight teams
including world champions Italy, Euro 2008 winners Spain and
South American champions Brazil, will serve as a warmup for the
2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Chief executive Danny Jordaan said ticket sales for the
Confederations Cup were boosted by corporate clients, who had
taken up 55 percent of those sold following a big internal
marketing drive in recent weeks.
Organisers now plan to launch "over the counter" sales in
main ticket centres in the host cities of Pretoria,
Johannesburg, Rustenburg and Bloemfontein.
"By simplifying the process we are certain South Africans
will find it easier to purchase their tickets and hope this will
create the necessary demand to sell out all matches," Jordaan
told reporters.
Around 8,000 security will be deployed in and around the
host cities during the Confederations Cup.
South Africa, Spain, Iraq and New Zealand are in Group A
while Brazil, Italy, United States and Egypt feature in Group B.
(Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng, editing by Tony Jimenez.
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