Here are the three things we learned from Bafana’s journey to the 2026 Fifa World Cup.
Bafana Bafana will return to the Fifa World Cup for the first time since 2010 after their 3-0 win over Rwanda in their final group match at the Mbombela Stadium on Wednesday.
The victory saw South Africa reclaim their top spot in Group C and secure automatic qualification for the next year’s showpiece in Canada, Mexico, and the United States.
READ MORE: Bafana Bafana reach World Cup wonderland
Their journey to qualifying for next year’s edition was certainly not an easy one, but Hugo Broos and his boys did it against all odds.
Here are the three things we learned from Bafana’s journey to the 2026 Fifa World Cup.
Broos’ appointment a turning point for SA football
Safa is often criticised for making some bad decisions when it comes to managing the national teams. However, the association deserves some praise for appointing Hugo Broos as the head coach of Bafana Bafana in 2021.
SA football fans, legends and the media at large met Broos’ appointment with heavy criticism. Critics mentioned his limited experience in leading national teams as the main reason for their scepticism.
But having seen what the Belgian coach had done with Cameroon in his only role as the national team coach between 2016 and 2017, where he led the Indomitable Lions to victory in the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations on home soil, Safa stuck to their guns and appointed Broos.
Broos shows faith in young players
When Broos took over the Bafana coaching reins, the first thing he did was to get rid of the entitlement from the so-called big-name players and fan-favourites.
In the past, these players were often guaranteed a spot in the Bafana squad due to the pressure from the fans and the media, but Broos decided to choose only the players, often young players, whom he believed would do the job for him.
And the young boys did the job for him.
Safa blunder fails to derail Bafana’s qualification
Having done so well to put themselves in a position to gain automatic World Cup qualification, a blunder from Safa threw a spanner in the works.
With Bafana sitting comfortably in first place in Group C and with only two games to go, Fifa deducted three points from Bafana for fielding a suspended Teboho Mokoena in a qualifier in March.
As if that was not enough, Bafana drew their penultimate match against Zimbabwe and trailed Benin by two points going into the final game. But against all odds, Bafana qualified for the World Cup as group winners after Benin lost 4-0 against Nigeria in their last match.
