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Johannesburg - Traffic gridlock outside Soccer City prevented thousands of fans from being on time for the opening of the Soccer World Cup at 14:00 on Friday.

All the roads and highways leading to the stadium were blocked.

"The traffic on the N1 south at the N17 offramp towards Soccer City is very heavy at this point," said Johannesburg traffic spokesperson Wayne Minnaar, just before 14:00.

"This is because motorists are on their way to the Park and Walk at Share World and there is only one entrance and this is causing traffic to move slowly.

"We are calling on the fans to please be patient," said Minnaar.

Just before the start of the opening ceremony, less than half of the 94 500 sold out crowd were inside the Calabash, which is rated one of the finest soccer stadiums in the world.

Fans told to arrive early

Organisers had for weeks appealed to fans to arrive early to avoid a major traffic jam, which was now causing a huge back-up of traffic outside the stadium.

A Sapa reporter on the scene said many people seemed to have taken cars to Soccer City but turned around to Nasrec when they were caught in traffic jams.

The fans then got onto Bus Rapid Transit system buses, causing many to be late for the opening ceremony.

Several soccer supporters stood outside the stadium to watch the flypast as the world's biggest single sports event kicked off.

People were still streaming into the stadium when the event opened.

Carlos Mercenari, 60, a Mexican supporter, said he opted to walk six kilometres to the stadium to make sure he was in time to watch Bafana Bafana play Mexico in the opening match.