World On Press
2010 World CUP update
30 referees from 28 countries appointed for 2010 FIFA World Cup™
(FIFA.com) Friday 5 February 2010
The FIFA Referees Committee, meeting in Zurich today (5 February 2010) under the chairmanship of Ángel María Villar Llona (Spain) has appointed 30 referees representing 28 different countries for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™.
FIFA has implemented a comprehensive programme to ensure that the referees for its flagship competition are in peak condition come 11 June.
The road to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, as it did for the 32 participating teams, began for an initial group of 54 trios of referees from all over the world in 2007 when the FIFA Executive Committee took the important decision of creating a Refereeing Assistance Programme (RAP). One of the key objectives was to prepare this group of prospective referees for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™.
As in previous years, the FIFA Refereeing Department - headed by Spanish former international referee José Maria García-Aranda who refereed at both the 1998 FIFA World Cup and the 2000 UEFA European Championship - was responsible for coordinating and organising all of the activities involving the candidate referees.
The RAP working group, a team of international experts in the fields of refereeing technique, fitness and psychology was set up by FIFA to monitor and analyse all of the information on the candidate referees, involving those responsible for refereeing in each confederation. The FIFA Medical Assessment and Research Centre (F-MARC) were another key group in this process.
The latest technology has been implemented in the preparation of the referees both within practical training, and interactive sessions, whilst performances at respective FIFA competitions were also analysed and evaluated.
Theoretical tests undertaken exclusively in English - which has been the lingua franca for FIFA’s referees for many years – to ensure appropriate knowledge of the Laws of the Game, the regulations for FIFA competitions and the directives of the International Football Association Board (IFAB) were also a regular feature during the last three years.
The group of 30 trios of referees selected will participate in a training seminar next month.
In May, a final assessment will be conducted and a decision made regarding the acting and support referees prior to the first match appointments being made for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™.
Fourth ticket sales phase starts on 9 February
(FIFA.com)
The fourth ticket sales phase will kick off on Tuesday, 9 February 2010 at 12.00 (Central European Time). This phase, one of the last chances for fans to make sure that they do not miss out on attending the first FIFA World Cup™ on African soil, will run for 58 days until 7 April 2010. Tickets will be allocated on a “first come, first served, subject to availability” basis. Applications can be made via http://www.fifa.com/2010 or (for South African residents only) at FNB branches.
The third ticketing sales phase for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ was finally concluded today. The 2010 FIFA World Cup Ticketing Centre has ensured that the maximum number of available tickets have been included in the random selection draw for the general public. Extensive validation of the results of the random selection draw process has been conducted in order to ensure the FIFA Sales Regulations have been adhered to.
A total of 1,206,865 tickets have been requested from 192 countries by the general public (excluding those tickets that have been sold through the participating teams to their fans). Of this total, 585,175 tickets were drawn successfully, and 413,072 (70.6 per cent) of those were allocated to South African residents.
Outside the host country, the United States received the highest number of tickets drawn (35,262), followed by the United Kingdom (21,614), Mexico (11,893), Australia (11,804), Germany (9,692), Brazil (5,891), Canada (4,642), France (4,268) and Israel (3,677). In Africa, Botswana remains the leading country behind the hosts, with a total of 1,587 tickets drawn, followed by Mozambique (1,142). Kenya completes the top three African countries with 785 tickets.
With regard to individual match tickets, category 4 was the most popular and the final received the highest number of applications. All applicants will be informed via e-mail or SMS whether they were completely or partially successful end of today
Additional information regarding the fourth sales phase: tickets are available at this stage for 53 of the 64 matches. Matches 5, 11, 37, 45, 54, 56, 59, 60, 61, 62 and 64 are not available in this phase. In addition, team-specific ticket series (TST) for England and Brazil are not available.
