At least six soccer fans have been injured in a crowd crush at Cape Town's World Cup "Fan Zone" on Thursday when thousands of fans attempted to get into the venue.

The venue, Cape Town's historic Grand Parade where Nelson Mandela delivered his first speech as a free man after his release from prison in 1990, was closed for a short while, although the incident has now been contained.

City spokesman Pieter Cronje said: "People were anxious to get in and just surged ahead. Fortunately it was a contained incident and calm was restored quickly."

On Sunday, at least 15 people were injured when fans tried to force their way into a match between Nigeria and DPR Korea.