ABU DHABI, April 27 (Xinhua) -- FIFA is happy with the ticket sales for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa after about 40 matches were sold out.

FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke, who is attending an international sports conference in UAE, said on Tuesday that there would be no empty seats at the World Cup in South Africa.

Valcke admitted that FIFA's initial largely Internet-based ticket sales system proved to be inefficient.

Half a million tickets were still unsold by April 15 before over-the-counter sales ignited real World Cup fever in the country as quite a lot of South African fans lack access to computers of bank accounts.

Valcke said more or less 40 of the 64 World Cup matches were now sold out and he was much more optimistic than three weeks ago that all matches will have full stadiums.