Photo by Nikki Rixon

Nigeria played North Korea in a friendly match ahead of the 2010 World Cup, which they both will play in, at the Makhulong stadium in Tembisa in Johannesburg. Ahead of the match, thousands of fans stampeded the gates outside the stadium, leaving several people injured. Several fans fell as others wearing Nigeria shirts ran in an attempt to get inside the 10,000-seater stadium, which will play no part in staging the actual tournament.

Thousands of Nigerian fans were disappointed as police and officials prevented even those with tickets from getting into the stadium. The match commissioner stopped the game minutes into the second half after receiving a belated report, but finally allowed play to continue after four minutes.

The stadium is nothing like those built or renovated for the World Cup. It has concrete terraces and is surrounded by a fence with gates and no turnstiles.

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Publication rights to this feature are available from Africa Media Online.