The World Cup in South Africa has helped FIFA's revenues past the billion dollar mark for the first time, world football's governing body said Friday.

"We are very confident, not only confident but very proud, that we can deliver the World Cup to Africa and that Africa can deliver the World Cup to the world," Blatter said after a two day FIFA executive committee meeting.

FIFA, a non profit-making organisation, said it had made a 196 million dollar surplus in 2009, as revenues soared to 1.06 billion dollars.

"For the first time out turnover in one year has been more than one billion dollars," Blatter told journalists.

Officials said the growing revenues were largely down to strong sales of commercial rights despite the recession.

"Overall the results show that organising the World Cup in South Africa was a good decision," financial chief Markus Kattner insisted.

But FIFA said it would sell more cheap tickets from April 15 in South Africa through mobile ticket offices around the country.

"We are more or less today at 75 percent of sales of World Cup tickets," said FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke.

AFP

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