THE Local Organising Committee insists that the opening 2013 Afcon finals match between Bafana Bafana and Cape Verde will be sold out despite selling just over 45,000 tickets to date.

This potentially explosive match, which is starting to generate huge interest, will be played at the National Stadium (Soccer City) on January 19.

LOC chief competitions officer Sipho Sithole said they were encouraged by the growing number of tickets sold for the tournament.

"We have sold just over 300,000 tickets, the majority of which were purchased by the host cities. Just over 45000 have been sold for the opening match," he said. "The sales are encouraging as many of the tickets were purchased in various parts of the country during the festive season holidays.

"We are confident the 500,000 tickets put aside for the tournament will be bought in the next few days; our people are excited about this tournament coming to South Africa.

"We also have people from other countries like Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique, Zambia, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tunisia, Algeria, Namibia, Ghana and other countries buying tickets.

"It is clear our people do not want to miss this continental soccer festival where greats like Didier Drogba, Emmanuel Adebayor, John Obi Mikel, Manucho and our own Siphiwe Tshabalala as well as Siyabonga Sangweni will be in action," Sithole said.

"The Bafana Bafana Class of 1996 were successful in winning this tournament on home soil because of the massive support they received from the entire country.

"It is for this reason that we call on South Africans to rally behind Bafana Bafana and also contribute to the success of this tournament," he said.