This is via email from our newest contributor, Eric, who is in South Africa for the World Cup.
When I entered the World Cup lottery for Team USA tickets 16 months ago, I didn’t realize that winning the lottery meant you immediately purchased the tickets you selected. I was under the impression that I was bidding on the right to buy tickets and a winning lottery number meant I could then purchase a ticket at my discretion. And really, a lottery makes it sound like you win something instead of the reality of forking over some cash to FIFA.
Being the proud owner of twelve tickets to the World Cup meant I had to get over to Africa. Which is where I am now, hanging out in my posh hostel in Cape Town. The official World Cup Ticketing Centres (thank you England) officially opened this week and I went over to pick up my tickets.
The good news: My tickets to see the USA take on England, Algeria and Slovenia!
The better news: Two of my three tickets were upgraded to CAT-1. For free.
Or through a blunder in the otherwise flawless execution of these games. See pictures of unfinished stadiums and highways as well as reports of crime in South Africa and other ineptitudes from FIFA, all to be found on Google. I don’t have the heart to take pictures of it myself. They really are working hard here to get everything ready.
CAT-1 tickets mean I’m sitting center pitch for the matches, rather than tucked into the corners.
The bad news: All of my tickets are, by random, in the upper levels. There is only one price for a ticket in CAT-1, regardless if you are in the mid-field 2 rows back or sort of on the side close to the goal in the upper level. Same goes for all the other categories. Price is determined by where you are on the circle around the pitch, not how far back you are from the pitch.
The worse news: Knockout stage game tickets are only issued after the results are known for the prior games. Therefore, I didn’t get my knockout stage tickets. Which means I have to go back to an official Ticketing Centre three more times. And since I’m leaving the country before the quarter- and semi-finals, it’s a mystery how those tickets will be purchased and given away as gifts to some dear friends I haven’t met yet.
Obviously I have no real reason for complaining though. I’m here in beautiful South Africa, getting to know the country and her people, and mentally preparing for an epic US-England matchup.
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