Nedbank Cup final match tickets disaster! Over 10,000 fans to be refunded after system allows purchases beyond the stadium capacity amid overwhelming demand to watch Kaizer Chiefs versus Orlando Pirates

Ticket sales for Saturday's Nedbank Cup final between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates opened this week, triggering a rush that saw the system allowing more fans to purchase above the capacity of Moses Mabhida Stadium.

Berti Grobbelaar, an independent auditor hired by the Premier Soccer League, said an excess of more than 10,000 tickets were sold.

The fans who bought the tickets after the allowed number will be refunded after the system was overwhelmed by demand.

“Is there not an issue of overselling of tickets…," said Grobbelaar as per iDiski Times.

"The capacity of the stadium is 49,307 seats, a reduced capacity but the capacity on the number of tickets that were issued – 41,000 general access tickets went on sale.  

“According to the preliminary report, the minute the tickets opened it was sold out in 90 minutes. That caused a breach. Fact is tickets went on sale; the system allowed more people to make payments then there is capacity for. 

“Open Tickets stopped the platform from issuing physical tickets but the payments still went through. From the overissuing of tickets, 19,561 had to be allocated to people that paid but did not get their tickets. 10,501 tickets were paid for but were overcapacity and those people had to be refunded," added the Stadium Management chief.

“All people to the capacity of the stadium have received their tickets, either in hard copy or digital. There were no more tickets issued than the capacity allows for. 

“Of the people that paid but cannot be allocated a ticket due to the overcapacity, 80 percent as we speak, everyone that bought online were refunded. The other 20 percent, people that paid via EFT or other form of payment platform have all received messages and will be refunded via EFT," he continued.

“From an event safety perspective for tomorrow there is people that were allocated but didn’t get tickets and were refunded or are in the process of being refunded. The people that paid for tickets up until capacity all received their tickets.”

Moses Mabhida has an official capacity of around 56,000 but the capacity for the Nedbank Cup has been reduced to 49,000.

However, despite those numbers seemingly manageable, the ticketing system has been chaotic and crashed almost immediately when tickets went on sale on Monday.

The interest to watch the Soweto Derby in a cup final in Durban sets the mood for a potentially stormy affair on Saturday.

Chiefs and Pirates continue with their preparations for the Nedbank Cup final as they meet seven days after clashing in a league match, which The Bucs won 2-1 at the FNB Stadium.

Amakhosi are seeking to end a 10-year trophy drought while the Buccaneers are keen on a third successive Nedbank Cup.