FIFA faces prospect of more empty seats at WCup

There could be more empty seats at another two World Cup matches, FIFA said Saturday.

About 5,000 tickets were still available for the Uruguay-South Korea match later in the day at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth, FIFA said.

In addition, 1,700 tickets are available for the second-round match involving United States and Ghana on Saturday at Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg.

"It's true the next game will have a number of empty seats, but that happens everywhere - not just in South Africa," FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke said. "It happens at all World Cups and we're beyond the ticketing level of Germany in 2006."

Filling the stadium in Port Elizabeth - which has a capacity of 42,486 - has been particularly problematic. There were 11,000 empty seats for the South Korea-Greece game; 5,000 empty seats for England-Slovenia; and 4,000 empty for Germany-Serbia.

Empty seats could become a bigger problem in the knockout rounds, because many fans purchase "team specific" tickets to follow their team, but if the draw doesn't play out as expected - such as England playing in Bloemfontein instead of Rustenburg - many tickets need to be re-allotted.