The gold rush is on for World Cup tickets

More than 220,000 people applied for tickets to next year's World Cup in the 48 hours after last Friday's draw in Cape Town, where the groups for the 32-team tournament were decided. One million tickets are being made available in the latest sales phase. Fans can apply until midnight on Friday 22 January, after which a lottery will decide the lucky winners.

"We are pleased with the interest shown so far. It shows the impact the final draw has had on football fans and the FIFA World Cup next year," Horst Schmidt, chairman of the ticketing subcommittee, said in a statement.

The South African Football Association is asking locals to buy tickets, fearing that they will be outnumbered by foreign fans at the home team's first-round games against Mexico, Uruguay and France. According to FIFA, South Africans bought just over half of the 674,403 tickets offered in the first two phases of sales. Although tickets are being sold globally on the internet, they can also be bought in bank branches in South Africa. Prices range from €120 to €900, a huge increase from what locals are used to paying to watch football.