Originally published Wednesday, June 24, 2009 at 4:05 AM

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FIFA gives away free tickets for Spain-US match

FIFA gave away 70,000 free tickets so local South Africans could attend Confederations Cup matches during the group stage of the eight-team tournament.

By CHRIS LEHOURITES

AP Sports Writer

JOHANNESBURG —

FIFA gave away 70,000 free tickets so local South Africans could attend Confederations Cup matches during the group stage of the eight-team tournament.

The governing body of world soccer decided to hand out the free tickets after some early matches at the World Cup warm-up tournament were played in half-empty stadiums.

"The amount of complimentary tickets for the group stage is 70,000," FIFA spokesman Nicolas Maingot said Wednesday, adding that total numbers would likely be available after the 16-match competition ends.

On Tuesday, Maingot said FIFA would also give away some tickets for Wednesday's semifinal match between Spain and the United States in Bloemfontein, but it was unclear how many were distributed.

"I do not have the exact figures at this stage," Maingot said.

For Thursday's semifinal match in Johannesburg between Brazil and South Africa, FIFA said Wednesday there are 1,700 tickets costing $120 still available, but no free tickets have been given out for that match at Ellis Park.

Tickets at this year's Confederations Cup range from $10 to as high as $200 for the final, which is well out of the reach of many people in South Africa, where unemployment is about 25 percent.

World Cup organizing committee spokesman Jermaine Craig said his group and FIFA have tried to make tickets available to everyone.

"What the organizing committee and FIFA have done is peg the exchange rate at 7 rand to the U.S. dollar, much less than the current rate," Craig said. "And we've tried to make tickets as affordable and as accessible to all South Africans as possible - of course understanding the circumstances of many of our countrymen and countrywomen."

On Wednesday, the exchange rate was about 8 rand to the dollar.

FIFA also said that all 48 in-competition doping tests so far at the Confederations Cup have been negative. FIFA tests two random players per team after every match.

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