53,000 World Cup tickets were sold in the first eight hours of the final phase, FIFA disclosed on Thursday but blamed the technical problems for delay.

FIFA said 23 of the 64 World Cup games are sold out after match tickets went on sale on Thursday at ticket centers and banks across South Africa.

The company employed by FIFA to run the ticket process apologized for the delays which led police to be called to ticket centers in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Pretoria to calm frustrated fans.

About 500,000 seats were made available to local fans.