South Africa became the latest Africa Cup of Nations host to face the challenge of filling stadiums with the continent's generally poor football fans as tickets for next year's tournament went on sale this week.

In an attempt to reverse a trend of poor crowds at recent African championships, next year's organisers kept tickets relatively cheap and easily available, having already opted for smaller stadiums to give them a better chance of sell-outs.

The last Afcon in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea was hurt by images of empty seats at some games, especially when the home teams weren't playing.

Tickets for South Africa range from the cheapest at R50 up to R200 for the most expensive seats at the final. Supporters could watch the semifinals and final for around R100 for each game and organisers also offered additional discounts of up to 20% to fans who buy early for the matches next January and February.

"The ticket pricing strategy was reached looking at the economy of the country and the levels of unemployment, people's disposable income as well as the time that the tournament is taking place," said organising committee chief executive Mvuzo Mbebe.

There are also worries that the January 19-February 10 tournament could come too soon after the expensive holiday season.

But South Africa still hopes to sell 500000 tickets for the 32 matches at the 16-team tournament, relying on the combination of affordable prices and easy access while, crucially, hoping to revive the excitement generated by the country's staging of the World Cup two years ago.

South Africa also apparently learnt from the World Cup in 2010 by making sure tickets could be bought at traditional shop outlets as well as online.

At the World Cup, the initial Internet-only sales procedure was problematic as most African football fans do not have credit cards or access to the Internet and prefer to buy their tickets over the counter.