16 hurt in World Cup 'friendly' match

A stampede outside a World Cup warm-up left 16 people injured yesterday, including two police officers, as the challenges facing organisers were brought into sharp focus days before the tournament kicks off.

The victims were crushed outside the gates as ticketless fans tried to force their way into the Makhulong stadium in Tembisa township, east of Johannesburg, where Nigeria were playing North Korea in a friendly, police said.

The incident in the build-up to the game came just hours after South African President Jacob Zuma and FIFA chief Sepp Blatter announced that everything was ready for the tournament - the first World Cup to be played on African soil.

"It would seem that there was some confusion among the crowd as to the ticketing system which led to disruptive behaviour on the part of the crowd," said a police statement.

"One police official was seriously wounded when he was trampled by the crowd, one police official was slightly injured but remained on duty and the emergency medical services reported that 14 spectators were transported to hospital with minor injuries. The police official is in a stable condition."

The 14 spectators were treated at the nearby Tebisa hospital while the injured officer was taken to another at Kempton Park.

Speaking at the ground, police spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Eugene Opperman said that 8,000 free tickets had been distributed ahead of the match but other fans who were without tickets had tried to push their way in.

"There were supposed to be only 8,000 tickets - they were all free," he said.