South African police have detained and will deport 17 football hooligans after raiding a school hostel early on Wednesday.

A force of 30 police and immigration officials raided the Christian Progressive College in the capital Pretoria, where 165 Argentine fans are staying.

"We took them by surprise," Brigadier Sally de Beer of the South African Police Service told The Associated Press.

"They were sleeping. They were a little rowdy and there was some shouting but everything went off fine."

De Beer said officers wore body armour in the raid but there was no violence.

South African officers were also helped by eight Argentine police representatives, who found some of the fans staying at the hostel were as young as 15, according to De Beer.

Police said they have been monitoring the "barras bravas" group and observed some of them trying to get into two World Cup matches, one of them Argentina's opening game against Nigeria at Johannesburg's Ellis Park, without tickets.

They said the hooligans "have also behaved in a disorderly fashion on a number of occasions, roughing other fans up and generally causing trouble."

"We have been monitoring them to build up a profile," De Beer said. "We decided that they were not the kind of people we wanted at World Cup matches. They could cause instability."

Police said the 17 men have now been handed over to the National Immigration Branch of the Department of Home Affairs for deportation.

They were in a "holding camp" and will be deported in the next three days, De Beer said.

Police also said five other Argentine citizens left the country voluntarily on Wednesday morning.

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