The teams are in the basement of the Premier League. Only 22000 fans will be let into the venue, which will seat 70000 during the World Cup next year.

It will be the second of South Africa's five brand-new World Cup stadiums to be opened, following the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium in Port Elizabeth, which was used for the first time in July.

Other new stadiums to be used at the World Cup and due for completion next year are Green Point in Cape Town, Mbombela in Nelspruit and Peter Mokaba in Polokwane. The refurbished, or rebuilt, stadiums are Soccer City, Loftus Versfeld, Ellis Park, Free State stadium and Royal Bafokeng, Rustenburg.

Sunday's opening match is regarded as a test run to identify any problems. There will be more such tests ahead of the World Cup.

The Moses Mabhida stadium, whose capacity will be reduced to 54000 after the World Cup, was completed late last month and is scheduled to host seven World Cup matches, including a semi-final.

The R1.6-billion stadium was scheduled to host Bafana Bafana's friendly international against Japan earlier this month, but the eThekwini municipality feared the venue would not be ready in time and the game was moved to Port Elizabeth.

It was built next to rugby's King's Park stadium and named after a general secretary of the SA Communist Party. Host club Amazulu have limited the tickets to 22000 because, according to the club's media officer, Philani Mabaso, it will help the fans get used to the new seating arrangements.

"The team and the municipality decided it would be better to have fewer people attend the opening of the stadium to avoid confusion," he said. "The seats are colour-coded and most South African soccer fans are not yet familiar with that arrangement. So it is better to have a smaller number of confused fans than the capacity crowd of 70000."

By late yesterday, more than 14000 tickets had been sold.

Amazulu will play six of their seven PSL home games at the stadium.