The Ticket Fund: Creating Opportunities

In recognition of their integral contributions to make 2010 happen, the FIFA President promised the estimated 20,000 construction workers two tickets each for a match in the venue they helped to build. This announcement back in September 2008 marked the first award of tickets from the Ticket Fund, a unique initiative in the 80-year history of the FIFA World Cup™.

In total, 120,000 complimentary category 4 tickets (3.6 per cent of the total inventory) will be awarded through this initiative to residents of South Africa by FIFA and the Local Organising Committee, with the support of the six FIFA Partners.

On 14 August, which marked 300 days before the kick-off of the first ever FIFA World Cup on African soil, the Ticket Fund was formally launched at a media briefing at Walter Sisulu Square, famous as the location where Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu signed the Freedom Charter, a document which ultimately helped to create possibilities and opportunities for everyday South Africans. At the launch, the focus was on projects supported by the FIFA Partners through which approximately 80,000 FIFA World Cup tickets will be distributed.

The aim of the Ticket Fund is to make 2010 FIFA World Cup matches more accessible to those who would otherwise not have the means to purchase tickets. Tickets will not simply be given as handouts but as a reward or incentive for people, in particular South African youth participating in, or contributing to social and human development activities. The initiative also aims to uplift existing programmes by encouraging participation and act as a catalyst for the establishment of new social and human development programmes.

The primary target of the programmes supported by the Ticket Fund is young South Africans who cannot afford to purchase a match ticket. Altogether, about 12,000,000 children, primarily through schools-related projects, could be incentivised to embark on a journey of learning through projects supported by the Ticket Fund. Children will gain a better understanding of environmental issues such as the importance of recycling and learn about HIV/Aids prevention amongst other important life skills.

However, the initiative will also recognise the contribution or achievement of adults from the industrial and tourism sectors who have passed through financial literacy programmes and teachers who are teaching students the importance of recycling as well as community leaders working in the area of HIV/Aids prevention. As many as 1,000,000 adults will be directly engaged by Ticket Fund programmes.

For each participant in a Ticket Fund programme, their journey begins when they participate in one of the projects supported by the initiative. All of the programmes are focused on one or more of three core areas - health, education and the environment, with the final key area of infrastructure represented by the involvement of the construction workers.

More details on each of the programmes supported by the Ticket Fund will follow on FIFA.com.