FIFA World Cup tickets will be out for sale in 2013

Hafiz Marikar

Having the 2014 World Cup football tournament in Brazil is going to be amazing because they live and breathe football over there. Brazil the home of football, has high plans', says Manilal Fernando the first member from Sri Lanka to be eleced to FIFA's Executive Committee.

When it comes to the FIFA World Cup, the issue of ticketing is always of great importance to football fans. For that reason, FIFA invited Brazilian journalists to a round-table discussion in Zurich, where they had the opportunity to pose questions to FIFA Marketing Director Thierry Weil and Executive Chairman of matches Jaime Byrom, according to Manilal Fernando who is in the World Cup Organizing Committee.

Complex operation

Manilal says ticketing is a very complex operation. There is going to be an estimated 3.3 million tickets available, although precise number is still to be confirmd.

That will only be possible once all the stadiums are ready and we know which seats cannot be made available for purchase,such as those which obstructs the viewers.

We also need to organize the Fan Fests together with the host cities. There will be plenty of additional activities for fans.

Confederation Cup

The sale of FIFA World Cup tickets will begin after the FIFA Confederations Cup 2013, probably towards the end of August 2013. Tickets for the Confederations Cup will go on general sale after the draw at the end of 2012.

We made this decision in order to prevent confusion between the two events among fans', said Fernando. The first sales phase will be a lottery in which fans can apply for tickets, which are then allocated via random draw. Everyone can take part and will have an equal chance of securing tickets. The majority of tickets will be sold through FIFA.com, the official FIFA World Cup website.

Ticket outlets

Similarly to South Africa 2010, there will also be ticket outlets in Brazil for local fans who do not have access to the internet. Furthermore, we will be working with local organizations to ensure we are able to reach every fan. Every football lover knows that Brazilians are passionate about football.

FIFA are in discussions with the government and the Local Organizing Committee to ensure that every social group has an equal chance of seeing World Cup matches live.

Lower incomes

It's FIFA's aim to make it possible for anyone to attend matches, from wealthy fans to those with lower incomes. FIFA believes a large proportion of tickets will go to Brazilians. Fans are of utmost importance. If the fans in the stadiums are happy, it'll be a fantastic World Cup.

Chairman of match Hospitality

The early signs are that we're going to be overwhelmed by the demand for tickets, which is very promising. The World Cup in Brazil is still two years away, but I can already say that the number of requests so far surpasses any previous World Cup for which FIFA has been responsible for hospitality and ticketing. FIFA will be taking a fresh approach to hospitality for Brazil 2014 and will be introducing a brand new product.

Aside from team and city-specific tickets, there will also be a package which covers all the main stadiums.

Kick-off times

The FIFA Executive Committee met on September 27, at the Home of FIFA in Zurich, and approved the kick-off times for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil. The opening match will take place on June 12 in Sao Paulo, with a kick-off time of 17.00.Group-stage games will be played at 13.00, 15.00, 16.00, 17.00, 18:00, 19.00 and 21:00 local time, with knockout stage matches at 13.00 and 17.00 local time. The championship will end on July 13.

The semi-finals will be played at 17.00 local time on July 8 and 9, the third place game on 12 and the Final, on July 13, 2014 at the iconic Maracana stadium, at 16.00 local time.

This is to be the second time Brazil hosts the competition. The first being the 1950 FIFA World Cup.

Fifth country

Brazil is scheduled to become the fifth country to have hosted the FIFA World Cup twice, after Mexico, Italy, France and Germany. It is scheduled to be the first World Cup to be held in South America since the 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina.

The first time two consecutive World Cups are conducted outside Europe and the first time two consecutive World Cups are conducted in the Southern Hemisphere -the 2010 FIFA World Cup was held in South Africa. The official ball of the 2014 World Cup will be the Adidas Brazuca. The name was selected by a public vote that received responses from more than 1 million Brazilian football fans.

Official match ball

"Brazuca" received over 70 per cent of the vote. Adidas, the official FIFA World Cup match ball supplier since 1970, took inspiration from elements of Brazilian culture to come up with a shortlist of three possible names for the ball that also included Bossa Nova and Carnavalesca.