Football fever is building in Polokwane, the smallest of the World Cup host cities, ahead of its opening game on Sunday.

Oniz, a newspaper salesman in the heart of the city formerly known as Pietersburg said "it's great for Polokwane. A lot has happened over the last couple of years. They built the new stadium, a lot of new roads. It has united us and it has brought new life to the city."

Polokwane hosts only four of the tournament's 64 matches, starting with Algeria-Slovenia on Sunday, followed by France-Mexico, Greece-Argentina and Paraguay-New Zealand over the next two weeks.

There is a public viewing area near Peter Mokaba Stadium, where all matches will be shown live and which is expected to attract up to 30,000 visitors per match day.

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