Cape Town - Cabinet is confident that FIFA will address the issue of a low turnout by soccer fans at FIFA Confederations Cup matches.
"We are sure that FIFA and the Local Organising Committee (LOC) will find a solution," Government spokesperson Themba Maseko said on Thursday, following an ordinary meeting of cabinet.
Mr Maseko said one of the solutions the LOC and FIFA were looking into was the reduction of ticket prices, however, Cabinet could not make a call on this at this stage.
"Cabinet will not be making a call for the reduction of ticket prices; however, it does seem that there are a lot of empty seats at a number of games being played," he said, adding that it was true that many of South African football supporters came from impoverished areas.
Cabinet further noted that FIFA President Sepp Blatter has said extra measures would be put in place to allow access to a bigger crowd, particularly youngsters at the Confederations Cup matches.
Last night, LOC Chief Executive Officer Danny Jordaan, said he was confident there would be an improvement in the number of South African soccer fans attending the remaining FIFA Confederations Cup matches.
According to Dr Jordaan, the current level of attendance at tournaments in South Africa is only 2 percent below Germany in the 2005 Confederations Cup.
"We are confident that there will be a remarkable improvement in attendance in the next days," Dr Jordaan said.
He said about 10 000 tickets were given away to local people for last night's match between Bafana Bafana and New Zealand.
"We however need to stress that this is not a general approach, we do it case by case," Dr Jordaan said, adding that discussions were underway on how to make free tickets available to more South Africans.
