More than 100,000 World Cup tickets have been sold in less than two days since cash sales began in South Africa, but the likely number of foreign fans has been halved, chief organiser Danny Jordaan said.

Over-the-counter sales of tickets in South Africa, which began on Thursday, ignited real World Cup fever for the first time and there was chaos as thousands of fans rushed to buy, crashing the computer system.

MATCH, the travel agent arm of FIFA, apologised for the problems, during which fans fought in queues after waiting for hours.

Police used pepper spray on brawling fans in Pretoria and a pensioner died of a heart attack in Cape Town.

Jordaan, boss of the local organising committee, told Reuters that 101,000 tickets had been sold in the final phase before the World Cup kicks off on June 11. Some 12,000 were international sales and the rest in South Africa.

He said only seven of the 64 matches still had tickets available in the special $20 category available only to South Africans.

All matches of the national team Bafana Bafana and most games with the other five African squads were sold out.

FIFA said tickets for 29 of the 64 World Cup matches were no longer available including the July 11 final, two semi-finals, the June 11 opening match and all matches in Durban and Cape Town.