Unwanted tickets to go on sale

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP):

Another 150,000 unwanted World Cup tickets are to go on sale tomorrow, including for the World Cup final.

The tickets were from FIFA's allocation and for all 64 games, including the previously sold-out July 11 final and two semi-finals, FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke said at yesterday's handover ceremony for Greenpoint Stadium.

They are returns from FIFA and its commercial associates, which have not taken up their full allocation.

Local organisers and FIFA had said the 500,000 tickets made available to the public in the final ticketing phase on April 15 were the last to go on sale.

Valcke also said he had received a report from Interpol on Tuesday regarding the Saudi citizen arrested in Iraq, who claimed to be plotting an attack on the World Cup.

"The report says it was just a bluff and there was nothing concrete behind this threat," Valcke said.

"As far as FIFA is concerned, we don't believe the group wants to attack this tournament. There are various nationalities in this World Cup and we don't see any reason for such an attack to occur," he said.

Will there be enough fans?

Valcke was joined by chief local organiser, Danny Jordaan, at the 70,000-seat Greenpoint Stadium, which cost an estimated $350 million - the country's most expensive new World Cup venue.

Valcke and Jordaan are part of a delegation currently touring South Africa to take over the 10 stadiums to be used for the World Cup.

But the issue over whether fans will fill the venues during the tournament is still unresolved.

FIFA told The Associated Press late yesterday that it had reached nearly 96 per cent sales at all matches and "was very pleased with the situation".

However, 246,000 of the total 2.88 million World Cup tickets remain unsold with the latest returns from FIFA.

The stadium delegation heads to Durban to take charge of Moses Mabhida Stadium and will visit Johannesburg's Ellis Park today.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter will join the tour when it heads to the northern cities of Polokwane and Nelspruit on Saturday and ends in Port Elizabeth on Sunday.