World Football

By Phakamisa Ndzamela

JOHANNESBURG, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Tickets for the 2010 soccer World Cup in South Africa will go on sale early next year, organisers of the tournament said on Thursday.

Tickets will be sold in phases, with some available when qualification for the 32-team tournament is complete in late 2009.

The first batch of tickets will be sold in host cities, at airport terminals and online.

"End-January next year (2009) we will begin selling the World Cup tickets," Leslie Sedibe, legal manager of the 2010 Local Organising Committee (LOC) told Reuters.

Approximately 3.1 million tickets are expected to be made available for purchase, with a minimum price of $20 (currently about 157 rand).

World soccer's governing body FIFA has said the cheapest tickets will be sold exclusively to South African residents.

FIFA is also planning to distribute around 120,000 complimentary tickets to South Africans, courtesy of a newly established ticket fund.

However, the majority of South Africans will follow the tournament on television as Africa hosts the event for the first time.

"The demand of tickets in the World Cup has always surpassed the supply," LOC chief executive officer Danny Jordaan said.

FIFA has introduced a new system for the 2010 World Cup, which it said would greatly increase the number of tickets available for genuine football supporters.

David Will, chairman of the ticketing sub-committee for the World Cup, said in July the percentage of tickets for fans from countries qualifying for the finals would rise by 50 percent.

Fans from teams involved in World Cup finals matches will now get 12 percent of the total stadium capacity for their matches, up from a previous total of 8 percent.

This will apply in the first round only, after which the percentage will average about eight percent for the knockout phase matches.

The tournament will be played in June and July 2010.