Tix

The major hurdle in planning the trip was negotiating the FIFA run ticketing process in the run-up to the tournament. Starting back in April last year, David and I started applying for each phase of tickets.

It wasn't until the third-round in January this year that we finally had some luck!

As it came down to the wire some of us got nervous:

"By the way, there's still 21 hours to go as of now ... when they say midnight they mean the end of January 22nd not the beginning ... silly me!

I'm in something of a quandary since I've been reading text like the following from the sales regulations:

2. Offer and Acceptance. Completion and submission of the Ticket Application Form to the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ Ticket Center ("FWCTC") or the FIFA Ticketing Office ("FTO") or any third party approved and authorized by FIFA constitutes an irrevocable and binding offer to FIFA by the individual completing and submitting the Ticket Application Form ("Ticket Applicant") to purchase a specified number and type of Tickets for Matches of the Event in accordance with the terms and conditions set forth in the Ticket Application Form, including, without limitation, these Ticket Sales Regulations.

... which says our application "constitutes an irrevocable and binding offer" to buy the tickets ... all $4000 of them currently!

Also, I noted this from the FAQ:

If I am successful in the application process, can I resell my tickets to someone else?
In accordance with the Sales Regulations and General Terms and Conditions that each ticket holder agreed to in connection with the ticket application process, ticket holders may not sell, offer for sale, resell, donate or otherwise transfer their ticket in any way, without the specific prior written approval of FIFA. Transfer requests will be considered in accordance with the Ticket Transfer Policy defined by FIFA and available onhttp://www.fifa.com/ once issued. The purposes for the rule limiting ticket transfers include: (a) event security, (b) consumer protection, and (c) economic fairness as described generally below.

... which means we can't resell excess tickets.

Ouch!

Now I do hear your argument that we'll probably not get an allocation.

However, in order to mitigate that risk that we might actually get what we're asking for I've switched my application to just 2 tickets per game ($2080).

If you guys do the same we'll see what we get!

Anthony."

What we didn't know - due to a lack of communication from FIFA in my opinion - was that the third round was where most of the tickets were going to be allocated!

And lo and behold on February 3rd:

"You're all asleep, but we've just seen that we got all the tickets we applied for!:

Item	Team/Venue	Seat Category	Quantity	Price
Match 5 - England v USA - 12 June 20:30	Royal Bafokeng Stadium	Category 1	2	$320.00
Match 10 - Japan v Cameroon - 14 June 16:00	Free State Stadium	Category 1	2	$320.00
Match 23 - England v Algeria - 18 June 20:30	Green Point Stadium	Category 1	2	$320.00
Match 37 - Slovenia v England - 23 June 16:00	Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium	Category 1	2	$320.00
Match 50 - R16 - 1C v 2D - 26 June 20:30	Royal Bafokeng Stadium	Category 1	2	$400.00
Match 58 - QF - W49 v W50 - 2 July 20:30	Soccer City Stadium	Category 1	2	$600.00
Total:			Quantity 12	$2280.00

Yippee!

Anthony."

Right now, on the eve of departure, we have a paper confirmation mailed from Zurich:

... which we expect to use at the ticket machines at Johannesburg airport when we arrive to finally get our hands on the hallowed tickets!