In October 2021, Ticketmaster was appointed by South African Football Association (SAFA) and FNB Stadium in Johannesburg to ticket the first live sport event with fans in South Africa since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.
The South African Government eased restrictions for sporting events on 11 October 2020, allowing fans back into stadiums and the first event was the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 ™ qualifying match between South Africa (Bafana Bafana) & Ethiopia at the 90,000 capacity FNB Stadium in Johannesburg on 12 October 2021.
Ticketmaster setup the event with social distance tooling & pod seating within 5 hours of the government announcement and all 2,000 tickets were distributed online through Ticketmaster’s website – a first for football in South Africa which has historically distributed 100% of its tickets through physical outlets.
Ticketmaster also delivered a seamless access control solution and are very proud of the team for making this happen at such short notice.
Len Marais, Director of Operations, Ticketmaster South Africa comments, “It’s been a challenging time for our industry and as the world of sport and live entertainment begins to find its feet again, we are delighted to have played our part in bringing live sport to fans once again. Our team worked quickly and efficiently to turn this around for our partners in record time, helping to achieve a first for football in South Africa, with all ticket sales taking place online. It’s testament to the agility, passion and dedication of the Ticketmaster team, and brilliant partners in both South African Football Association and FNB Stadium that we’ve been able to achieve such a feat.”