The opening weeks of September was filled with international football with the primary focus being the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. There are 48 spots available in this new World Cup format taking place in Canada/USA/Mexico and 18 of those spots have already been officially confirmed for the tournament which includes the 3 host nations receiving automatic qualification. When it comes to the African nations’ spots, they have 9 official spots available with countries like Tunisia and Morocco having already qualified for the competition being top of their respective groups. For one African country, their people are both shocked and pleasantly surprised to see their team lead their group and potentially qualify for the World Cup for the first time in 16 years. That is South Africa’s own Bafana Bafana.

Top of Their Group

Bafana Bafana are currently top of Group C in the CAF (Confederation of African Football) World Cup Qualifiers with 17 points that they have accumulated over their last 8 qualifying games. They are currently in pole position to directly qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup with 2 games left to played in the stage. The only factor that could prevent this from happening is the other nation in the group that could directly overtake them is Benin, who have 14 points. With the mentioned 2 games left, it looks like it is down to Bafana Bafana and Benin to see who is going to qualify for the final 7 CAF spots in the World Cup with other the nations such as Rwanda and Nigeria look to be still be battling for a 2nd place finish to try and qualify for the Playoffs stages.

Possible Outcomes

  • If Bafana Bafana wins their final 2 qualifying games, South Africa officially qualify for the World Cup.
  • If Bafana Bafana win and draw their final 2 qualifying games, South Africa will still have enough points to qualify for the World Cup no matter the results of Benin’s qualifying matches.
  • If Bafana Bafana win 1 of their final 2 qualifying games and Benin lose or draw 1 of their final 2 qualifying games, South Africa will officially qualify for the World Cup.
  • If Bafana Bafana draw their final 2 qualifying games and Benin do not manage to win both of their final games, South Africa will still qualify for the World Cup.
  • If Bafana Bafana win 1 and lose 1 of their final 2 qualifying games and Benin win all of their remaining qualifying games, it will go down to Goal Difference to see who qualifies between the 2 teams.

In essence, the pressure is all on Benin to win all of their remaining games left if they want any chance of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. For Bafana Bafana, the goal is to just not lose their remaining qualifying games to ensure South Africa qualify for the next stage if not direct qualification.

Remaining Matches

The remaining qualifying games will take place during the international break in October 2025 and Bafana Bafana’s final 2 qualifying games are against 1 team they have beaten and 1 team they suffered a defeat against. Bafana Bafana’s first game will be against Zimbabwe, a nation whom they had a 3-1 victory over back in June 2024, and their final game will be against Rwanda, a nation that is still holding out hopes to qualify for the Playoff Stages and a team that has previously beaten Bafana Bafana in a 2-0 victory back in November 2023. Quite an interesting road ahead for Bafana Bafana and is it not smooth sailing for their competitors, Benin, either as they too must face Rwanda in their first remaining qualifying games and then go on to face Nigeria in their final game. Both Rwanda and Nigeria will be looking to take that 2nd place spot into Playoffs stages so for both South Africa and Benin, these upcoming matches will most likely not be easy for the 2 top leading nations of Group C.

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