Cape Town — The accommodation crisis for the 2010 Soccer World Cup appears to have been averted after football governing body Fifa and the 2010 local organising committee announced yesterday that the issue had been resolved.

Fifa general secretary Jerome Valcke said the prophets of doom who had predicted a catastrophe when it seemed SA would struggle to accommodate the expected 500000 foreign visitors would have to delete accommodation from their doomsday list about this country.

"It was a big challenge but please delete accommodation off the list because it is no longer a crisis," Valcke said. "We are no longer afraid about accommodation and we can accommodate, whatever the demand is."

The success of the first World Cup to be held in Africa was balanced on a knife edge after Fifa president Sepp Blatter admitted in June that organisers were spending sleepless night working out where they would accommodate foreign visitors.

But local organising committee chairman Irvin Khoza said the problem was resolved after many of the operators that had steadfastly refused to be signed up with MATCH, - the professional services company selected by Fifa to provide ticketing, accommodation and event information technology, finally agreed to be registered.

"We needed 55000 rooms and, after resolution of the problem, we now have 48000 available," Khoza said yesterday. "We have seen many of them (hotels and other hospitality establishments) signing up over the past few weeks and surely we should be able to make up the 7000 difference long before the tournament gets under way next year."

Several hotels and other operators had refused to sign up with MATCH as many believed they could make more money if they did things alone and did not have to abide by Fifa's stringent guidelines and regulations for the World Cup.

Valcke said Fifa and the organising committee had learnt important lessons from the Confederations Cup after South Africans either stayed away from the stadiums or waited till the last possible moment before purchasing tickets.

Fifa and the organising committee were accused of not doing enough to promote the tournament to notoriously apathetic locals and Valcke said that plans were under way to make sure more South Africans buy the 1,3-million tickets that go on sale this weekend.

"The problem is people have this idea that they can buy tickets at the last minute. So we have decided to launch call centres in each province which will cost about 350000 to set up.

We learnt from the Confederations Cup ... that the absence of information to fans was one of the main factors that led to the low turnout. So these special arrangements and facilities have to be made to ensure South Africans outnumber the foreigners."

Khoza said the Department of Transport had agreed to relax some rules and allow more frequent flights from African countries. Fifa plans to rent aeroplanes and fly fans directly without them going via Paris.