World Cup organizers said Friday they are giving away 120,000 free
tickets to next year's football tournament to poor South Africans.
Officials
said they are concerned that despite some of the lowest ticket prices
in World Cup history, poor blacks would still not be able to afford to
come to the tournament, which is being held for the first time in
Africa.
Forty thousand World Cup tickets will go to the
construction workers who have been building the stadiums and other
infrastructure for the matches.
Last month, thousands of South
African construction workers staged a one-week strike that ended when
they received a 12 percent raise.
The bulk of the remaining tickets will be distributed by the game's major sponsors.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
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