Johannesburg  - With less than three months to go to the opening game in the Confederations Cup in South Africa, and only one-third of the tickets sold, FIFA is pulling out all the stops to fill seats, FIFA general-secretary Jerome Valcke said Sunday.

Of the 640,000 tickets available for the eight-nation "Championship of Champions", held in the World Cup host nation a year before the big event, FIFA has sold less than
200,000 tickets so far, Valcke told reporters in Johannesburg.

To avoid the spectacle of the likes of Brazil and Italy playing in sparsely-populated stadiums, FIFA has bumped the proportion of cheap category-four tickets from 18 per cent to 25 per cent of tickets and relaxed rules barring individuals or companies from bulk buying.

Companies and private persons can now buy "thousands" of tickets if they promise not to resell them or cross swords with FIFA sponsors, he said.

The June 14-28 Confederations Cup is seen as a dry run for the 2010 World Cup, in terms of South Africa's preparedness.

Valcke was in South Africa to get a taste of what a World Cup game might be like by attending a South Africa-Norway game in the first of 10 World Cup stadiums to reopen after a facelift.

On the basis of Saturday's game in the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg, North-West province, stadium access had emerged as "critical," he said.

The stadium, which the organizers said had nearly sold out, was half-full for much of the action after fans were held up by stringent security at checkpoints erected two kilometres from the venue.

"We have to work on this critical issue," Valcke said. Another area of concern was punctuality, after the match started two minutes late, he said, while saying he was impressed by the stadium quality.

The game, which South Africa won 2-1, was overshadowed by the government's refusal to grant the Dalai Lama a visa to attend a conference last week on the role of football in propagating peace.

The Tibetan spiritual leader had been scheduled to attend the Rustenburg match after the conference that was called off when other prominent Nobel Peace Prize winners, including Archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu, pulled out in solidarity with the Dalai Lama.

FIFA has refused to comment on the government's decision but Valcke did say he was "surprised" to hear the government invoke the World Cup as a reason to bar the Dalai Lama.

He was referring to government's early assertion that it did not want the Dalai Lama to siphon attention away from the World Cup to Tibet. A government spokesman later admitted South Africa had felt compelled to choose between its trade ties with China and the Dalai Lama.

Asked what would happen if the Dalai Lama applied for tickets to the World Cup, Valcke would only say that South Africa was obliged to grant a visa to "every person invited by FIFA, whomever it is," while adding: "For the time being, there is no invitation (from FIFA to the Tibetan)."

Valcke also downplayed concerns that the global economic downturn could threaten the success of the World Cup, while admitting the effects were already being felt on sales of hospitality packages.

Of the 250,000 World Cup tickets available in hospitality packages, only 60,000 tickets have been sold in the first month of ticket sales - fewer than usual for that type of package.

South Africa is hoping to attract over 400,000 foreign visitors to the tournament, despite signs that hard-pressed European consumers are already cutting back on overseas travel.

"The fans, they will come," Valcke assured. dpa