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Hamburg - Demand for tickets for the World Cup in South Africa via national football associations has been low, raising fears that not all the more than 3 million tickets available for the tournament will be sold.
With the deadline for sales from national associations for their teams' group games having passed, it appears that most of the allocated tickets will have to be returned to world governing body FIFA.
According to Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung, the German football federation DFB has only had around 1 000 orders for its allocation of 21 000 tickets for the three group games against Australia, Ghana and Serbia.
The English and Dutch associations, which traditionally have large fan followings, have also not managed to sell their contingents.
The Dutch, who have sold between 2 000 and 3 000 tickets per group match but had reckoned on up to 10 000, have now asked FIFA to extend the deadline.
Elsewhere it has been the same story, prompting the Sueddeutsche Zeitung to ask: "If the three federations known for fans who like travelling (with their teams) have such problems what does it look like for Paraguay, Serbia or Honduras?"
The DFB would not comment on the ticket numbers.
However, in the first of the five ticket sales phases, there were some 25 000 orders from Germany for all the 64 matches in the tournament from June 11 to July 11.
FIFA's third sales phase, which began on December 5, is underway until January 22 when an electronic random draw will take place if demand exceeds supply.
According to FIFA at the end of last year there was strong initial demand, with applications reaching the 500 000 mark within the first 10 days of the third phase, of which 386 300 were from South African residents.
In the first two phases only 53.6% of the 674 403 sold were in South Africa.
South Africa's 2010 World Cup organisers said this week they were considering over-the-counter ticket sales due to the slow ticket applications for matches featuring the national team and other African countries.
Danny Jordaan, head of the local organising committee, said: "Usually the hosts are the ones who sell most tickets but Bafana Bafana does not even feature in the top 10 and it's a concern."
Jordaan told Talk Radio 702 one reason for the sluggish sales was South Africa's "culture of waiting ... and buying late."
With Jordaan this week again forced to dismiss security concerns, this time following the gun attack on the Togo team at the Africa Cup of Nations, the poor ticket sales are another public relations setback for the organizers.
However, it is hoped the next sales phase from February 9 until April 7 will see demand, when sales are on a first-come first-served basis, pick up.
The final sales phase will be from April 15 until the end of the tournament on July 11 at point of sale.
South Africa media reports say the cost of tickets and the process on applying online - a facility not widely available to many people -has so far deterred local fans.
The Times online wrote that the idea of having to apply for a ticket and then wait weeks to hear if the application has been successful is "a strange and foreign concept to most South African sports fans."
It was "little surprise" that most South Africans are choosing to wait until the application process is complete, and they can simply go out and buy a ticket on a first-come, first-served basis, it said.
Some tickets are being earmarked for free distribution for welfare institutions and clubs, as happened at the 2009 Confederations Cup in South Africa to help fill the stadiums.
But if sponsors as expected also begin returning large portions of their allocations, it could lead to a "festival of free tickets" at this year's tournament, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung wrote.
