South Africans have queued overnight for a chance to buy half a million unsold World Cup tickets.

Fifa agreed this week to drop a ruling that tickets could only be bought online or through a ballot and they will be on sale over the counter at ticket centres, in shopping malls and some popular supermarkets.

That makes it much easier for the many South Africans without internet access or credit cards. It will be the first time fans can buy tickets over the counter and queues began forming late on Wednesday.

"I'm going to kiss my ticket when I get it," said one man called Godfrey at the Maponya Mall in South Africa's biggest black township, Soweto.

"The last time I waited in a line like this was when I voted for Mandela," he said, recalling the elections won by Nelson Mandela at the end of apartheid in 1994.

Tickers are available for all 64 matches. Fifa had previously said the final was sold out, but on Wednesday announced 300 late tickets would be released for the biggest match in world football.