Ticket Sales

On Friday, the first of five ticket sales phases began. It is hard to believe that it has already started. In many ways it seems too soon as a fan to be planning ticket purchases, but for some it makes sense. Here are the basics to help with your decision.

A Strategy
The best strategy is to apply in all of the ticket sales until you get tickets. I'll revisit the strategy as more information comes available. I am going to order category 3 TST-4 tickets to follow the USA, so my trip will last between 14 and 16 days and tickets will cost $374. If the USA is eliminated in the group stage, I'll still get to see the fourth match and follow whichever team advances instead of us.

As much as I would like to get tickets from US Soccer so I can be in a pro-US section, US Soccer's handling of allocations in the past has been less than optimal and I want to maximize my chances. Furthermore, we don't know enough now about where the USA will be playing and when, so until qualifying is over and more information has been published, I think it is best to start my ticket buying adventure now.

Read on for more in-depth discussion of the ticket sales.

Understand the Five Sales Phases
The sales are broken into five phases, two lotteries each followed by a run-off sale and a final last minute sale to sell whatever is left before the start of the tournament.

If you are certain enough about your plans to go to South Africa you can place an order now. The first sales phase runs from Friday, February 20, 2009 until March 31, 2009. This is a lottery phase so all requests for tickets have an equal chance of winning tickets. The second phase will be a first come, first served sale of whatever may be left over from the first phase. If your team is eliminated from qualifying, your money will be refunded.

The third and fourth phases are a similar arrangement to the first and second. The third phase begins December 5, 2009, a day after the group draw in Cape Town. There is very little information about why the third and fourth phases are necessary, but I am guessing that it has to do with the fact that qualifying will be over, all the stadiums will be done or close to done, and the scheduling picture will be much more clear.

The last phase is of course to sell anything that is left after the completion of the first four phases. I would use this as an opportunity to pick up some extra tickets in a city near where you'll be staying, for those days when your team is not playing.

A "Sixth" Phase?
According to the BBC, the national federations will not have tickets to allocate to fans. Apparently that responsibility will fall upon a third party out of Switzerland (not Manchester as the article states) named MATCH Hospitality AG.

MATCH Hospitality is the official hospitality provider for the 2010 World Cup. Other than the BBC article, I could not find any information on whether there will be ticket allocations for the national federations or whether MATCH will handle them. It does seem that there will be tickets, it is just a matter of who will be distributing them.

Of course, those who tried to fax in their orders to US Soccer for the 2006 World Cup will probably welcome someone other than US Soccer handling it. It was a bit of a fiasco so anything else should be an improvement.

Choose Your Trip Duration
The full match schedule is available here. As with past World Cups, the group stage (first round) will last two weeks. It starts on Friday, June 11, 2010 and finishes on Friday, June 25. If you can get two weeks off from work, this is your option. Follow your team and you'll see three matches in three cities.

The round of 16 starts immediately after the group stage on Saturday, June 26. Depending on group placement, it will be possible to catch the round of 16 match for your team within the weekend after the group stage. At most, your team could end up playing on the following Monday or Tuesday. If your team falls into one of the groups that would play on those days, they would also start the group stage later and you would be able to depart from home at a later date.

The bottom line is that in most cases we could catch the round of 16 match and still keep the trip within two weeks. In some cases, a few days may need to be added.

Those who can afford to add an entire third week can also catch the quarterfinals, while a fourth week would cover the semis and the final.

Choose Your Ticket Category
In the past I have always recommended going with the cheapest ticket category. In 2002 I paid top dollar for category 1 tickets only to find myself up in the corner on the second deck only a few seats removed from the people in the category 4 tickets. The category 4 section is behind the goal and is always the more fun one, where a lot of people are standing and singing and really getting into it. At World Cup matches, the best seats are reserved for all the VIPs, sponsors, and friends of Jack Warner, so even if you shell out for category 1 you'll probably never get something near the center of the pitch. In short, the end sections are more fun and costs less, so why not?

In South Africa the category 4 tickets are being reserved for residents only. This is an effort to keep them affordable. That is regrettable because it means I will not be able to join them for the fun, but I can settle for category 3.

Have a look at the summaries of the categories and prices on the FIFA site. It is $374 for a team-specific ticket (TST) package through the round of 16. That's four matches following your team, presuming they make it to the round of 16. If not, you'll instead get to see a team that advanced out of your group. It is a win all around!

Unless you have a reason to stay in a particular city, I would select a TST series. If you want to try to get single match tickets to fill days between your TST match days, wait until a later sales phase when you know where and when your team will be playing.

Log In To Buy
If you've gotten this far, maybe you've got your credit card out and are ready to buy. Start here: http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/organisation/ticketing/applyfor/index.html.