Jerome Valcke (File)

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Johannesburg - FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke has revealed ticket prices for South African residents will be slashed in order to ensure all matches at this year's World Cup finals are sold out.

Following disappointing sales to overseas supporters, category two and three tickets will be changed to category four seats which can be sold only to South African residents for around $20.

Quoted in The Telegraph, Valcke said: "We will increase the number of category four tickets because we cannot have a situation where the World Cup is in South Africa and people cannot see matches.

"This will bring less income to FIFA, but we have already brought in the income we need to match the organising committee budget, which is $423m."

Valcke believes airline and travel companies are partly to blame for the number of unsold tickets.

"I think that we are facing a peak time where companies feel that they can put the highest level of pricing," he said. "We want to make sure that fans can afford to travel to South Africa.

"It is clear that people have decided that because it is the World Cup they ask the highest amount possible to maximise income, but it doesn't work today.

"They forget that it is a long distance to travel to South Africa, you need to stay for more than a few days, so they have to make offers that the fans can afford."

Valcke also admitted mistakes had been made in granting agency Match exclusive rights to sell travel and ticket packages for both South Africa and Brazil 2014.

"We have good lessons to learn from 2010 and they will help us in 2014," he said.

"For the World Cup 2010 we will have to sell the tickets to fans direct. We will think about setting up FIFA ticketing centres around the world."