Pretoria - The sprint is on for tickets to Africa's very first FIFA World Cup with ticket application forms available from most FNB branches as well as on the fifa.com website from 1pm local time on Friday.
After a person fills out the ticket application form and it is handed back to a teller at the FNB branch, the applicant will know within 10 days whether their application for a ticket or tickets has been approved.
FIFA, however, on Friday announced that due to unforeseen delivery delays, not all FNB branches had received the printed ticket application forms for the start of the first phase of ticket sales.
FIFA did highlight though that all branches would be fully stocked by Monday.
"We kindly ask fans for patience and would like to remind them that the first ticket sales are not conducted on a first come, first serve basis.
"All the applicants who correctly apply for tickets between 20 February and 31 March 2009 will have an equal opportunity of obtaining the tickets for which they have applied," FIFA said.
The ticket application forms request certain personal information from the applicant including Identity Document numbers or passport numbers, nationality, residential addresses, as well as fax and e-mail addresses.
Once the application has been confirmed, the applicant will then have to pay the teller for the tickets via either cash or credit card.
Once payment has been received, the applicant will then be issued with a FNB Visa Official Mascot Prepaid Card reflecting the money paid for the tickets, which needs to be inserted into a ticket collection machine closer to the date of the match in order to have the tickets printed.
Tickets are available in two categories either the Match Ticket or the Team Specific Ticket (TST).
A Match Ticket is bought for a single match on a particular day which has to be indicated on the form, while the TST allows a person to follow a national team of their choice around.
Tickets are available in categories one to four, with category one offering the best seats in the stadia, while the category four tickets are the most affordable ticket and are also exclusively available to South African citizens.
The first sales phase will begin from 20 February until 31 March 2009, and all oversubscribed matches and ticket products will be entered into a random selection draw which will take place on 15 April 2009.
The second sales phase will run from 4 May until 16 November 2009 on a first-come-first-served basis with applications processed in the order they are received.
The third phase is a random selection draw phase running from 5 December 2009 until 22 January 2010.
The fourth sales phase is again run on a first-come-first-served basis between 9 February and 7 April 2010, while the fifth and final last minute sale phase between 15 April and 11 July 2010 will be for tickets that have become available due to unforeseen circumstances.
Ticket prices will range from Category 1-4 which includes:
* Category 1 - Prices range from $160 to $900
* Category 2 - Prices range from $120 to $600
* Category 3 - Prices range from $80 to $400
* Category 4 - Prices range from $20 to $150 (For South African citizens only)
All persons with disabilities can apply for Category 4 tickets.
The prices of the tickets is dependant on the category as well as whether the match is taking place during the group stages of the world cup, is either a qualifying round, opening or final match.
