Image Credit: @FIFAWorldCup Twitter

After some obstacles in the way, a lot of hard work and a lot of faith, Bafana Bafana achieved their goal that South Africa has been waiting 15 years for. October 14, 2025 will be the day remembered when the South African nation rejoiced as Bafana Bafana officially qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Bafana Bafana left this achievement for the final day of qualifiers to secure their spot in football’s biggest ever competition after some behind the scenes complications affected what should have been a quite comfortable qualification for the Rainbow Nation.

Points Deduction

After the September International Break South Africa was in pole position to qualify for the World Cup, leading Group C with 17 points after a 3-0 victory over Lesotho and 1-1 draw against Nigeria. The closest challengers for South Africa’s spot were Benin, who at the time had 14 points after their respective victories over Zimbabwe and Lesotho. With 2 qualifier games remaining, Benin had to win their final 2 games and hope that South Africa slip up in their final 2 games in order to even have a remote chance of taking top spot of Group C. Everything looked to be in Bafana’s favour until it came out at the end of September that South Africa had violated a FIFA ruling during their match against Lesotho, South Africa had fielded an ineligible player. The player in question was Teboho Mokoena, he was not officially eligible to play in their match against Lesotho due to the fact the Mamedlodi Sundowns player had accumulated 1 too many yellows in their previous 2 qualifying matches. With 2 yellows in 2 games, Mokoena was set to be suspended and miss the game against Lesotho however the South African Football Association (SAFA) somehow missed this detail and allowed the 28-year-old to play anyway. After the discovery of this error, FIFA issued the following punishments to South Africa:

3 points stripped away from South Africa

3 goals stripped away from South Africa’s goal difference

SAFA being issued a fine around R215,000

These punishments essentially erased South Africa’s win over Lesotho and had given Benin a much-needed opportunity to finish top of Group C as well as it also miraculously had given Nigeria a small window of hope to sneak into top spot.

October Qualifiers

With Group C now being made an open contest, the October International break looked a lot more interesting with the final 2 qualifying games taking place. In the race for the top spot of Group C, Nigeria did their part by defeating Lesotho 2-1 as well as Benin did their part as well by defeating Rwanda in a 1-0 victory. Bafana however let whatever little advantage they had left in the race slip after they managed to only secure a draw against Zimbabwe, who were playing with 10 men after a 64th minute red card after Zimbabwean forward Knowledge Musona received his 2nd yellow card of the game after giving away a free kick. Bafana failed to take advantage and after a string of missed opportunities, the game ended in a 0-0 draw which saw another sending off occur after the South African and Orlando Pirates centre back Mbekezeli Mbokazi received 2 yellows in span of 2 minutes in the stoppage time. With that South Africa and Zimbabwe shared a point and the race for World Cup qualification was set to be a dramatic one as the final qualifying games were set to decide who was going to America/Canada/Mexico for the 2026 World Cup, who was going to try and qualify the long way through the Playoffs stages and who was going to miss the World Cup entirely. The table looked like this leading to the final day:

Benin – 17 Points +5 Goal Difference

South Africa – 15 Points +3 Goal Difference

Nigeria – 14 Points +3 Goal Difference

Long Awaited History

South Africa was faced with the task of playing their final qualifying game against Rwanda, a team that had previously beaten them in a 2-0 victory in the early stages of the World Cup Qualifiers back in 2023, while Nigeria and Benin had the almost poetic challenge of facing each other in their final qualifying game. The advantage was all essentially in Benin’s hands as all they had to do was not lose to Nigeria and hope that South Africa do not win convincingly against Rwanda. Nigeria’s task was a little different as they had to win against Benin to have any chance at qualifying for the World Cup and for direct qualification into the competition, Nigeria had to hope that Rwanda could pull another victory over South Africa or at the very least leave the game with a draw. Nigeria did their part in breaking Benin hearts by defeating Benin in a 4-0 victory courtesy of a Victor Osimhen hattrick and a stoppage time goal by Frank Onyeka however as faith would have it, luck and quality was on South Africa’s side. Bafana Bafana secured their qualification into the 2026 FIFA World Cup after defeating Rwanda in a 3-0 victory thanks to goals from Orlando Pirates players Thalente Mbatha, Oswin Appollis and Evidence Makgopa. For the first time since 2010, when South Africa hosted this very competition, Bafana Bafana will be in the World Cup and this long-awaited qualification can be dated back all the way to 2002 which was the last World Cup competition that South Africa qualified for. A historic moment for South Africa returning to football’s biggest stage and it is not just South Africans who are excited, many fans from across the world who fondly remember the 2010 FIFA World Cup and Siphiwe Tshabalala’s opening day goal combined with the team’s iconic celebration, are also excited to have South Africa back in the competition for the first time in 16 years.

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