CASABLANCA, Sept. 28 -- THE Confederation of African Football (CAF) has delayed the opening of the first phase of ticket sales for this years Africa Cup of Nations tournament.

The postponement came after the governing bodys ticketing platform crashed just minutes after going live. The ticket presale, which was exclusively available to Visa cardholders, saw thousands of fans flood the platform, causing it to collapse.

Supporters were met with an error message that read: “Ticketing temporarily unavailable. Due to high demand, all available tickets are currently being purchased. Thank you for your understanding.”

The ticketing process had originally been structured in multiple phases with the presale due to run from September ...