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FIFA provides extra tickets

An extra 150,000
tickets for all 64 World Cup matches will be put on sale on Friday
after 96 per cent of seats were sold, FIFA Secretary-general Jerome
Valcke said.

If the additional
tickets were sold the tournament would reach almost 98 percent capacity
across all the 10 stadiums. A total of nearly 2.9 million seats were
available for the world’s most watched sporting event, which runs for a
month from June 11.

Estimates of
foreign visitors for the World Cup, once put at 450,000, have recently
been reduced to between 300,000 and 370,000. The number has been
depressed by the global economic crisis, the cost of a long-haul World
Cup destination and fears over South Africa’s high levels of violent
crime.

Cameroun waiting for clearance

Cameroun are still
awaiting FIFA permission to field two players named in their
preliminary squad for the World Cup finals in South Africa. Defender
Gaetan Bong, and forward Eric Choupo-Moting were not fielded alongside
the other newcomers in the friendly against Georgia in Linz on Tuesday
because world football’s governing body had not yet given permission
for them to switch nationality, coach Paul Le Guen told reporters.

Bong is a former
French youth international, while Choupo-Moting has won four caps for
Germany at under-21 level. Both are of Cameroon descent and have dual
nationality. Under FIFA rules, players can change their footballing
nationality if they have not been capped at senior level.

The pair was named
among nine uncapped players in Le Guen’s preliminary squad of 30 for
the World Cup, where they play Denmark, Japan and the Netherlands in
Group E.

Hard tackles to be outlawed

FIFA medical chief,
Michel D’Hooghe, wants referees at the World Cup in South Africa to
crack down on players who commit career-threatening tackles during
matches. D’Hooghe says that he plans to give referees plenty of
instruction and warning, adding that a big event like the World Cup
offers a chance to send the message that these kinds of bone-crunching
tackles are unacceptable.

“We will
specifically tell our referees and let everyone know to use the red
card as soon as a career-threatening foul is committed at the World
Cup.”

FIFA President saddened by singer’s death

Following the news
of the sudden death of Siphiwo Ntshebe who was due to perform at the
opening ceremony of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa on 11 June,
FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter sent a message of condolence to the
singer’s family, courtesy of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising
Committee South Africa.

“I am very sad
indeed to hear this news” said Blatter in his message. “This young man,
whose talent had been identified and supported by no less than Nelson
Mandela was about to showcase that talent to millions of people around
the world. That he should pass away so suddenly, and so close to the
opening of the first FIFA World Cup to be hosted on African soil is
very cruel, but we are not the masters of our destiny.”

The FIFA President will also convey his sympathy in person to the Organising Committee on his arrival in Johannesburg tomorrow.