The Star an online news agency reported that the Tickets for Saturday's opening Africa Cup of Nations clash between South Africa and Cape Verde are sold out - four days ahead of schedule.

By late yesterday, more than 80 000 tickets had been snatched up for the crunch fixture at the 94 700-seater National Stadium (the temporarily renamed FNB Stadium).

The sudden surge in sales for the opening fixture has not just given the organisers hope that they will reach their target of 500 000 ticket sales, but prompted the Afcon local organising committee (LOC) to increase the number of tickets available to the public.

"We are worried about the shortage of tickets. We now need to release the additional 4 000 tickets that were reserved for corporate (clients)," said LOC chief communications officer Sipho Sithole.

In other cities, ticket sales have been sluggish. Of particular concern are Rustenburg and Port Elizabeth, where just more than 40 000 tickets had been sold so far in each venue. Each of these venues hosts eight matches.