FIFA's Executive Committee has decided to allocate more tickets for group matches, for sale to countries which qualify for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa.

The Executive Committee met this week, under the chairmanship of President Sepp Blatter, and decided that associations which qualified to take part will now be allocated 12 percent (previously 8 percent) of purchasable tickets for the group matches of the finals.

However, the ticket allocation for the knockout stages will remain at 8 percent, said FIFA on its official website.

Since the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, FIFA has reassumed responsibility for ticket sales and will establish a company named "2010 FIFA World Cup Ticketing Ltd" to this end.

In addition, on account of the distances involved, a programme for tour operators will be launched to enable certified and authorized companies to offer combined ticket and travel package deals.

In Africa, the World Cup preliminary competition will also serve as the qualifying competition for the Africa Cup of Nations 2010.

After consulting all of the confederations, additional international match dates were approved for 2008, in accordance with the international match calendar.

FIFA is confident about South Africa's readiness to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup, a message which was reiterated to top news agency officials in Spain recently.

Alain Leiblang, Chief Media Officer of FIFA, gave a very positive overview of South Africa's readiness to host the 2010 World Cup, speaking to delegates at the Second World Congress of News Agencies in Estepona, Spain.

Preparations for South Africa to host the games, were "80 percent on track" according to Mr Leiblang.

Earlier in November Mr Leiblang had been part of the FIFA inspection tour of South Africa.

Countrywide, the construction of the new stadiums is expected to be completed in three years' time.

The stadiums will be designed for Cape Town (Greenpoint Stadium), Durban (Kings' park Stadium) and Port Elizabeth (Nelson Mandela Bay) and Nelspruit (Mbombela Stadium).

Of these, Durban's is set to be the biggest, hosting 85 000 soccer fans.

The stadium in Port Elizabeth is to have capacity for 40 000 while Cape Town's venue will seat 70 000 and have a retractable roof.

The Green Point stadium has been earmarked for one of the semi-finals games.

The other six stadiums in Rustenburg (Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace), Bloemfontein (Free State Stadium), Pretoria (Loftus Versfeld Stadium) Polokwane (Peter Mokaba Stadium) and Johannesburg (Soccer City and Ellis Park Stadiums) are being upgraded.

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