Football’s ruling body, South African organisers, tourist chiefs — and ticket touts — had hoped the first World Cup on African soil would result in a huge influx of foreign visitors and help transform the continent’s image in the eyes of the world.
But worrying signs have emerged that the world might not turn out in the numbers expected, amid fears of high prices and uncertainty over safety.
Dutch and German football authorities have already confirmed that supply has far exceeded demand for tickets for their matches, and England fans are likely to find themselves in the unusual position of discovering that requests have not exceeded the number on offer.
The scramble for England tickets is traditionally as familiar during the build-up to major tournaments as rampant over-optimism and the need to become an instant expert on metatarsal injuries.
But it is believed that this time around every England fan in the official supporters’ club who has applied for a ticket for the opening three group games against United States, Algeria and Slovenia or for matches in later rounds will almost certainly get one.
Usually they have to accumulate a certain number of points by attending qualifying matches at home and away or prevail in a ballot to get hold of the 3 000 to 6 000 tickets typically reserved for each match. An estimated 100 000 went to Germany for the 2006 World Cup and more than 50 000 travelled to Portugal for the 2004 European Championships.
In South Africa a total of 22 479 tickets have been allocated to England fans in the official club. In addition 48 274 tickets across all 64 matches have so far been allocated to buyers with UK addresses in the open Fifa ballot, ahead of the latest sales phase closing on Saturday. Each applicant can buy up to seven.
Whatever the final total, predictions from the South African organising committee and tourist chiefs that between 40 000 and 50 000 England fans would descend on South Africa as part of a contingent of 450 000 tourists now look over-optimistic.
“There is a combination of factors leading to a relatively low take-up of tickets from English fans and, ironically, the prospects of the team is not one of them,” said Kevin Miles, director of international affairs for the Football Supporters’ Federation.
“It’s a calculation about the World Cup experience you can get for your restricted funds and a combination of expensive flights, rip-off hotel rates, difficult internal transport, uncertainty about safety and the fact it is in winter. They all combine to make it a much less attractive proposition.”
Tour packages, including match tickets, typically start from £3 499, while individual match tickets range from about £49 to £98 for group matches and about £250 to £550 for the final.
However, Mark Perryman, of LondonEnglandFans, said: “Once prices start to come down and people realise that it might be a pricey holiday but it’s not an outrageously pricey one, hopefully things will start to turn around because the last thing you want is half-empty stadiums.” – guardian.co.uk