FIFA said 1.2 million applications were received for tickets from 192 countries during the third phase of sales that ended last week, bringing applications to around two million for a total of three million seats.
FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke however condemned media reports reporting the host country's high levels of crime, and accommodation and transport problems, which could dissuade fans from travelling to South Africa in June this year.
"It's sad that every morning when you wake up people are saying you should not go to South Africa ... it's insane and it is completely wrong," he said.
"Where can we organise the World Cup? On the moon? Where there is no-one?" he asked. "Don't kill the World Cup before the World Cup has taken place."
There are 50 murders a day in South Africa, more than in the United States which has six times the population.
