DURBAN, (Reuters):

FIFA WILL give 120,000 free tickets to South African residents for matches at the 2010 World Cup finals, FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke announced yesterday.

The organising committee of the first World Cup to be held in Africa also decided that, to make the finals as affordable as possible for home fans, the cheapest tickets for first round matches, apart from the opening game, would cost US$20.

The committee also confirmed the seedings for today's preliminary round draw for the qualifying competitions in Asia, CONCACAF, Europe and Africa. The South American and Oceania competitions are already under way.

England, who fell out of the top group of European seeds after losing to Croatia in their Euro 2008 qualifier this week, joined the second group as expected.

The top European seeds will be world champions Italy, Spain, Germany, Czech Republic, France, Portugal, Netherlands, Croatia and European champions Greece.

The match schedule was also confirmed with the finals starting on June 11 and ending on July 11.

Kick-off times announced

Three kick-off times were announced as 1:00 p.m. (local time), 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. with the World Cup kicking off at the Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg.

Opening day matches will also be played in Cape Town, Rustenburg and Port Elizabeth.

It was announced on Friday that South African residents would be able to purchase specially-priced cheap tickets for the finals.

The most expensive first-round tickets, apart from the opening match, which will cost US$450, will be US$160. The cheapest second-round tickets will cost US$50, while the cheapest for the semi-finals will be US$100.

The most expensive ticket for the final will be priced at US$900 and the cheapest category four ticket will be US$150.

Valcke told a news conference that between 2.8 and 3 million tickets will be available. The cheapest would account for 12-15 per cent of the total which will be finalised when the stadium seating plans are known in two years' time.