Soccer-hungry fans on Monday took less than four hours to snap up all the 2,000 tickets that were available to attend Bafana Bafana's crucial 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifier against Ethiopia at FNB Stadium on Tuesday.

The tickets were available online after co-operative governance and traditional affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma amended regulation 69 of the Disaster Management Act to allow the supporters to return to stadiums for the first time in more than a year since the advent of the coronavirus pandemic.

Stadium Management CEO Bertie Grobbelaar said everything was in place  in and around FNB Stadium to accommodate the fans.

“There are 1,700 tickets on ‘sale’ (300 are for VIPs),” said Grobbelaar as he explained the procedures in place at the 2010 World Cup venue.

“It is important to note that once you have applied and you have been successful, you must bring your ticket with a code and your digital or handwritten vaccination certificate with you to the venue.

“The requirement to have a vaccination certificate is that of the event organiser for this specific event and I don’t know if this is going to be a requirement for other similar events.

“Kickoff is at 6pm and if you are one of the lucky fans who has managed to get a ticket, you are advised to come to the venue because there is going to be a bottleneck at the verification marquee.”

Grobbelaar said law enforcement would be on hand to deal with those who do not follow the health and safety protocols.

“There are safety protocols similar to the ones we had before these 2,000 spectators were allowed back into the stadium, and they remain in place. We hope that by way of a softer approach, people will co-operate but the police and security personnel will be on hand to assist if necessary.”

Grobbelaar said vuvuzelas and food will not be allowed into the venue.

“We  can’t accept vuvuzelas because of the health risks as there are droplets of saliva when you blow a vuvuzela. You also can’t bring any food or drinks, but there will be vendors selling fresh food, water and cool drinks — not alcohol.

“Under 18s will not be allowed to attend the match because people in that age have not been vaccinated.