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Johannesburg - More than 340 000 tickets have been sold for the 29th Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament, the LOC said on Thursday.
Local Organising Committee CEO Mvuzo Mbebe told reporters that 55 000 of the projected 90 000 tickets had already been sold for the opening game between South Africa and the Cape Verde Islands at Johannesburg's National Stadium (FNB Stadium) next Saturday.
"It is the Bafana games which have easily attracted the most ticket sales, with the support for the host team further emphasised by the near-capacity crowd which watched the 1-0 warm-up defeat against Norway at the Cape Town Stadium earlier in the week," he said.
Video highlights: South Africa v Norway
Mbebe said everything possible had been done to ensure the tournament was successful.
This, despite difficulties, which included the delayed agreement to stage the opening and closing games at the National Stadium, and South Africa taking over as the host from Libya at the last moment.
"The major challenge has been the shortage of a cash flow, which has hampered operations and impacted on marketing and mobilisation of the public to buy tickets.
"However, I am happy to say considerable progress has been made in the opening days of 2013 and I believe the momentum will continue to increase dramatically before the opening game."
Mbebe said more than 700 local and international media members had been accredited.
LOC chairperson Mwelo Nonkonyane believed concerns about match-fixing and the SA Football Association's (SAFA) alleged role in this, will not adversely affect the tournament.
"An agreement has been reached in dealing with these matters."
It was Nonkonyane who had earlier announced the suspension of five top SAFA officials, including president Kirsten Nematandani and acting CEO Dennis Mumble, who had been mentioned in a FIFA report on match-fixing.
Since then the five had been reinstated by SAFA's national executive committee.
