AFCON fans in ticket fiasco

Luanda - Fans hoping to attend games in the African Nations Cup tournament which gets underway on January 10 in Angola have been angered by delays in issuing tickets.

Tickets should initially been put on sale from December 22 through two branches of the BAI and BPC banks in four host cities - Luanda, Cabinda, Benguela and Lubango.

But an employee for the BPC bank said he had not been informed of the sale of such tickets for the January 10-31 tournament.

"I've never heard of these tickets!" he said. "People keep asking me but there are no tickets here."

In the BAI branch in the capital, a ticket desk has been exclusively set aside for the tournament, but no tickets are available for the opening game Angola versus Mali.

Most tickets cost between 250 and 750 kwanzas ($2.80 and $8.40) with prices rising to 1 700 kwanzas ($19) for the final.

VIP tickets cost between 25 000 and 52 000 kwanzas ($281 to $585).