World Cup final stadium opens with South Africa cup final
More than 74,000 South African football fans are attending the first match at Soccer City – venue for the World Cup final.
The rebuilt stadium is hosting the South African cup final less than three weeks before the World Cup’s opening match is played there.
The stadium is also known as the Calabash after the traditional African cooking pot which it resembles.
Built between Johannesburg and Soweto, it is Africa’s biggest football ground.
For the World Cup, its capacity will rise to almost 95,000 but this was reduced for its first match, pitting Wits against Amazulu.
Tickets sold out even though the match features two of South Africa’s less glamorous teams.
President Jacob Zuma officially opened the stadium – the last of South Africa’s 10 World Cup grounds to be unveiled.
Kick-off was delayed for 30 minutes because of the volume of traffic going to the football game and a rugby match in Soweto, reports the AFP news agency.
It is the first time the World Cup is being held on African soil.
Over 2.5 million tickets have been sold, out of 3 million available.
More than a million have been bought by South Africans.
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