WITH the the fourth phase of the 2010 Fifa World Cup opening today, Fifa has urged fans in Polokwane, Bloemfontein, Pretoria, Rustenburg and Port Elizabeth to apply for tickets.

WITH the the fourth phase of the 2010 Fifa World Cup opening today, Fifa has urged fans in Polokwane, Bloemfontein, Pretoria, Rustenburg and Port Elizabeth to apply for tickets.

All the match tickets in those cities are still up for grabs, with some in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban sold out.

"Eleven matches out of the 64 Fifa World Cup matches will not be available at this stage," said Fifa's head of World Cup ticketing sub-committee Horst Schmidt.

The matches are: 5 - England vs USA; 23 - England vs Algeria, 37 - Slovenia vs England; 45 - Portugal vs Brazil; 54 - Round of 16 at Ellis Park, Johannesburg; 56 - Round of 16 at Cape Town.

Others are match 59 - quarterfinal at Cape Town; 60: quarterfinal at Ellis Park, Johannesburg, 61 - semifinal at Cape Town, 62: semifinal at Durban and 64 - final at Soccer City.

Schmidt said: "The first come, first serve principle means if you do not apply on time, you run the risk of not getting a ticket. It is crucial for fans to process their applications speedily.

"We are content with the sales so far, having already sold 2million tickets. We still have two more ticketing phases to sell out the event."