South African national soccer team

This article is about the South African men's national soccer team . For the women's team, see South African Women's National Football Team .

Republic of South Africa
Republic of South Africa

Nickname (s)	Bafana Bafana
Association	South African Football Association
confederacy	CAF
Technical sponsor	Nike
Head coach	Molefi Ntseki
captain	Thulani Hlatshwayo
Record scorer	Benni McCarthy (32)
Record player	Aaron Mokoena (107)
Home stadium	FNB stadium
FIFA code	RSA
FIFA rank	71st (1334 points) (as of July 16, 2020)
First jersey Second jersey
statistics
First international Northern Ireland 1-0 South Africa ( Belfast , Northern Ireland ; 24 September 1924)
Biggest win Australia 0-8 South Africa ( Adelaide , Australia ; September 17, 1955)
Biggest defeats Nigeria 4-0 South Africa ( Lagos , Nigeria ; October 10, 1992) Mexico 4-0 South Africa ( Los Angeles , USA ; October 6, 1993) USA 4: 0 South Africa ( Washington, DC , USA ; June 3, 2000) Nigeria 4-0 South Africa ( Monastir , Tunisia ; January 31, 2004)
Successes in tournaments
World Championship
Participation in the finals	3 ( first : 1998 )
Best results	Preliminary round 1998, 2002, 2010
African Championship
Participation in the finals	10 ( first : 1996 )
Best results	Winner 1996
Confederations Cup
Participation in the finals	2 ( first : 1997 )
Best results	4th place in 2009
North and Central American Championship
Participation in the finals	1
Best results	Quarterfinals 2005
(As of May 2017)

The South African national football team is the selection team of the South African Football Association . The team known as Bafana bafana (“the boys”) achieved the only international title for football in South Africa as the 1996 African champions . The highest position ever achieved in the FIFA world rankings was a 16th place.

history

Beginnings up to the Second World War

The sport of football was brought to the Cape Colony in South Africa by the British colonial power in the second half of the 19th century ; The first documented soccer game in what is now the Republic of South Africa was played in its capital, Cape Town . A selection team was formed for the first time at the turn of the century when the English club Corinthian FC traveled to the colonies several times. Like all selection teams until 1992, the "official" national team consisted exclusively of white players due to racial segregation . However, as early as 1898, a selection of black players from the Orange Free State , the Orange Free State Bantu Soccer team, had visited metropolitan England and played a few games there; it became known there under the pejorative name " Kaffirs ".

A first trip abroad over nine weeks led the white South Africa selection to South America, where they played against Brazilian club teams as well as against Uruguay and Argentina ; She won both internationals, the latter 4-1 in Buenos Aires. The first games of a selection from the South African Union , at the time a Dominion of the British Crown, were played in Europe in 1924. A team named Springbok Touring Team traveled to Europe in the year where they played between August 30 and December 3, 1924 Completed 21 games against club teams and five games against national teams. Of the games against Northern Ireland , Wales , the Netherlands and England twice, only the Irish Football Association and the Dutch Association count their games in Belfast on September 24, 1924 and Amsterdam on November 2, 1924 as an official international match . The game in Amsterdam was chaired by the German referee Peco Bauwens .

Apartheid and international isolation

The first - as counted by FIFA and RSSSF - official international match of the selection from the South African Union took place on May 10, 1947 in Sydney . It was the first of five games against Australia in as many weeks . Of these, the South Africans won three, one ended in a draw. The South Africans then traveled to New Zealand , against whose national team they won all four games until July 19, 1947. Three years later, the Australian team came to South Africa for a return visit. The 3-2 victory in Durban on June 24, 1950 was the Union's first home game. There were two wins and two defeats in the four games of the Australian tour. 1953 followed a game in Lisbon against the Portuguese national team , in 1954 one in Johannesburg against the team from Israel . The selection played another five games in 1955 on a second trip to Australia against the Socceroos , all of which they won - with an overall goal ratio of 23: 1.

After the white government established apartheid after the Second World War , South Africa also became isolated internationally in terms of sport. The South African team was excluded from the first African Cup of Nations in 1957 by the CAF - which had just been founded and to which only the three other associations participating in the Africa Cup belonged. The FIFA suspended South African Association in 1964 at its Congress in Tokyo , about a decade later, the official exclusion.

Re-entry into the sports community

It was not until 1992 that the Republic of South Africa was re-accepted into the international association as a result of the gradual dissolution of apartheid; the first international match of the national team organized by the new football association SAFA under coach Stanley Tshabalala on July 7, 1992 was a 1-0 victory in the rugby stadium King's Park in Durban against Cameroon , which not only euphorized the national coach:

“We're going to set the world on fire. We have arrived."

- Stanley Tshabalala

Another two games against the World Cup quarter-finalist from 1990 , who had traveled to the association's unification celebrations, followed: a 2-1 defeat in Cape Town and a 2-2 in Johannesburg. The new team was nicknamed Bafana Bafana , "the boys the boys" (meaning in Zulu , in Xhosa : "the men are the men"). Their fourth game led the team for the first time abroad in the AM-qualification documents the guys in Harare the Zimbabwean Warriors 1: 4. However, one win (in Mauritius ) and two draws were not enough to reach the finals.

The team also missed qualifying for the 1994 World Cup .

African champions in their own country

Kenya was originally intended for the finals of the 1996 African Cup of Nations ; the Kenyan Association, however, renounced the alignment and South Africa stepped in. Bafana Bafana was thus set for the finals and left qualifying group 5 after two wins and one draw. In the absence of defending champions Nigeria , the South Africans reached the final, beating Tunisia 2-0 thanks to two goals from Mark Williams in front of 75,000 spectators at Soccer City in Johannesburg . Williams was with five goals - together with the Zambian Kalusha Bwalya - the top scorer of the tournament.

Two years later, South Africa reached the final of the 1998 African Championship again , but lost 2-0 to the Egyptians in Ouagadougou . Half a year later, the South Africans also competed in the 1998 World Cup , for which they had qualified in Africa Group 3 . After two draws and one defeat against the hosts , they had to say goodbye to France after the preliminary round. At the African Cup of Nations in 2000, South Africa lost to the Nigerians in the semi-finals and came third by defeating Tunisia on penalties.

In 2013 , South Africa hosted the African Football Championship for the second time . In the opening game, South Africa drew 1: 1 against Cape Verde . In the second game, South Africa won 2-0 against Angola . On the last day of the group, each team had the chance to reach the quarter-finals. With a 2-2 draw against Morocco, South Africa secured group victory in Group A ahead of Cape Verde. In the quarter-finals, South Africa was eliminated on penalties against Mali .

The new millennium

In 2002 the South Africans again took part in the finals of the AM 2002 , but had to admit defeat to the Malian hosts in the quarterfinals . They also qualified for the World Cup in Japan and South Korea (without losing points), but had to let Paraguay move into the last 16 against Germany due to fewer goals scored . From then on, higher placements at major tournaments were not achieved - the team said goodbye to the following three African Championships after the preliminary round, and the team could not qualify for the 2006 World Cup in Germany, for which South Africa had also applied .

For the 2010 World Cup , which will be held in Africa for the first time , South Africa was chosen as the host so that the team did not have to qualify as hosts. In qualifying for the African Cup of Nations 2010 , which took place earlier in the year , South Africa already failed in the group stage.

World championship in their own country

Logo of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa

In the run-up to the World Cup, South Africa hosted the 2009 Confederations Cup . Despite all the euphoria in the country and in the team, the hosts couldn't get beyond a 0-0 draw against Asian champions Iraq in the opening game . At the end of the tournament, the South African team achieved a respectable fourth place against European champions Spain in the game for third place on June 28, 2009.

In the opening game of the Soccer World Cup on June 11, 2010, the team beat Mexico 1: 1 in the sold-out Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg . However, Bafana Bafana lost the second game against Uruguay 3-0. In the third game they won 2-1 against France , which was not enough to advance due to the poorer goal difference against Mexico. Thus, South Africa was the first World Cup host to be eliminated after the preliminary round.

Current squad

Status: October 2017

Surname	society	Natal date	International match Calls	International match Gates
goalkeeper
Itumeleng Khune	Kaizer Chiefs	06/20/1987	86	0
Ronwen Williams	SuperSport United	01/21/1992	4th	0
Wayne Sandilands	Orlando Pirates	08/23/1983	9	0
Defense
Thulani Hlatshwayo	Bidvest Wits FC	December 18, 1989	33	3
Eric Mathoho	Kaizer Chiefs	03/01/1990	34	1
Motjeka Madisha	Mamelodi Sundowns	01/12/1995	0	0
Clayton Daniels	SuperSport United	07/10/1984	12	1
Morgan Gould	SuperSport United	03/23/1983	31	1
Sifiso Hlanti	Bidvest Wits FC	05/01/1990	7th	0
Thamsanqa Mkhize	Cape Town City FC	08/18/1988	3	0
Tebogo Langerman	Mamelodi Sundowns	05/06/1986	10	0
midfield
Kamohelo Mokotjo	Brentford FC	03/11/1991	10	0
Thulani Serero	Vitesse Arnhem	04/11/1990	38	2
Andile Jali	KV Ostend	04/10/1990	47	5
Hlompho Kekana	Mamelodi Sundowns	May 23, 1985	24	5
Tiyani Mabunda	Mamelodi Sundowns	04/17/1988	7th	1
Bongani Zungu	SC Amiens	10/09/1992	23	2
Dean Furman	SuperSport United	06/22/1988	44	3
Themba Zwane	Mamelodi Sundowns	08/03/1989	14th	1
Sibusiso Vilakazi	Mamelodi Sundowns	09/29/1989	29	5
Lebogang Manyama	Konyaspor	13.09.1990	16	1
attack
Keagan Dolly	HSC Montpellier	01/22/1993	12	2
Siphiwe Tshabalala	Kaizer Chiefs	09/25/1984	91	12
Bradley Grobler	SuperSport United	01/25/1988	8th	3
Percy Tau	Mamelodi Sundowns	05/13/1994	9	4th
Dino Ndlovu	Hangzhou Greentown	02/15/1990	5	0
Phakamani Mahlambi	Al Ahly Cairo	09/12/1997	1	0

Tournaments

World Championship

→ Main article : South African national soccer team / World Cups

year	Host country	Participation until ...	Last opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
1930	Uruguay	not participated
1934	Italy	not participated
1938	France	not participated
1950	Brazil	not participated
1954	Switzerland	not participated
1958	Sweden	not participated
1962	Chile	not participated
1966	England	not participated				suspended by FIFA after qualification begins
1970	Mexico	not participated				suspended by FIFA
1974	Germany	not participated				suspended by FIFA
1978	Argentina	not participated				suspended by FIFA
1982	Spain	not participated				suspended by FIFA
1986	Mexico	not participated				suspended by FIFA
1990	Italy	not participated				suspended by FIFA
1994	United States	not qualified				In the qualifiers in the first round of Nigeria failed.
1998	France	Preliminary round	France , Denmark , Saudi Arabia	24.	Philippe Troussier	After a defeat against eventual world champions France and two draws against Denmark and Saudi Arabia, they were eliminated as third in the group.
2002	South Korea / Japan	Preliminary round	Paraguay , Slovenia , Spain	17th	Jomo Sono	After a draw against Paraguay, a win against Slovenia and a defeat against Spain due to the fewer goals scored, retired as third party.
2006	Germany	not qualified				In the qualification in the 2nd round to Ghana failed.
2010	South Africa	Preliminary round	Mexico , Uruguay , France	20th	Carlos Alberto Parreira	After a draw in the opening game against Mexico, a defeat against Uruguay and a win against France, South Africa finished third in the group due to the worse goal difference and was the first host to be eliminated in the preliminary round at a World Cup.
2014	Brazil	not qualified				In the qualification of Ethiopia failed, which also failed in the playoffs the group winner.
2018	Russia	not qualified				Failed in the qualification in the third round at Senegal , Burkina Faso and Cape Verde
2022	Qatar

African Championship

1957 in Sudan	locked out
1959 to 1992	suspended by the CAF
1994 in Tunisia	not qualified
1996 in South Africa	African champions
1998 in Burkina Faso	2nd place
2000 in Ghana and Nigeria	3rd place
2002 in Mali	Quarter finals
2004 in Tunisia	Preliminary round 3rd place
2006 in Egypt	Preliminary round 4th place
2008 in Ghana	Preliminary round 4th place
2010 in Angola	not qualified
2012 in Equatorial Guinea / Gabon	not qualified
2013 in South Africa	Quarter finals
2015 in Equatorial Guinea	Preliminary round 4th place
2017 in Gabon	not qualified
2019 in Egypt	Quarter finals

South Africa was excluded from the tournament in 1957 due to its refusal to compete with a multi-ethnic team.

The South African national team was suspended by FIFA at international level from 1957 to 1992 because of the apartheid policy in the country.

African Nations Championship

Only players who play in the national championships of their home countries are eligible to play in this championship. The matches will be counted as friendly matches or not by FIFA.

2009 in Ivory Coast	not qualified
2011 in Sudan	Quarter finals
2014 in South Africa	Preliminary round
2016 in Rwanda	not qualified
2018 in Morocco	not qualified
2020 in Cameroon	not qualified

South African Championship (COSAFA Cup)

See also : COSAFA Cup

1997	not participated
1998	not qualified
1999	Quarter finals
2000	Semifinals
2001	Quarter finals
2002	1st place
2003	Quarter finals
2004	not qualified
2005	Semifinals
2006	not qualified
2007	1st place
2008	1st place
2009	Fourth
2013	Third
2015	Consolation round
2016	1st place
2017	Winner of the consolation round (5th place)
2018	Winner of the consolation round (5th place)
2019	Winner of the consolation round (5th place)

Trainer

•  Stanley Tshabalala (1992)
•  Ephraim Mashaba (1992)
•  Augusto Palacios (1993)
•  Clive Barker (1994-1997)
•  Jomo Sono (1998)
•  Philippe Troussier (1998)
•  Trott Moloto (1998-2000)
•  Carlos Queiroz (2000-2002)
• Jomo Sono (2002)
•  Ephraim Mashaba (2002-2004)
•  Stuart Baxter (2004-2005)
•  Dumitru Teodorescu (2005-2006)
•  Carlos Alberto Parreira (2007-2008)
•  Joel Santana (2008-2009)
•  Carlos Alberto Parreira (2009-2010)
•  Pitso Mosimane (2010–2012)
•  Gordon Igesund (2012-2014)
•  Ephraim Mashaba (2014-2017)
• Stuart Baxter (2017-2019)
• Molefi Ntseki (2019, interim)

Record player

(As of November 20, 2018)

Record player
Games	player	Period	Gates
107	Aaron Mokoena	1999-2010	1
91	Itumeleng Khune	2008–	0
89	Siphiwe Tshabalala	2006-2017	12
82	Siyabonga Nomvethe	1999-2012	16
80	Benni McCarthy	1997-2010	31
74	Shaun Bartlett	1995-2005	28
73	John Moshoeu	1993-2004	8th
72	Delron Buckley	1998-2012	10
72	Bernard Parker	2007-2015	23
70	Lucas Radebe	1992-2003	2
67	Andre Arendse	1995-2004	0
67	Sibusiso Zuma	1998-2008	13

Record shooters
Gates	player	Period	Games
31	Benni McCarthy	1997-2012	80
28	Shaun Bartlett	1995-2005	74
23	Bernard Parker	2007-2015	72
23	Katlego Mphela	2005-2013	53
19th	Phil Masinga	1992-2001	58
16	Siyabonga Nomvethe	1999-2010	82
13	Sibusiso Zuma	1998-2008	67
12	Tokelo Rantie	2012 – active	41
12	Siphiwe Tshabalala	2006-2014	88
11	Donald Wilson	1947-1947	9
10	Delron Buckley	1998-2008	72
10	Teko Modise	2007–2012	66

International matches against German-speaking national teams

	date	place	Home team	result	Visiting team
1.	12/15/1995	Johannesburg	South Africa	0-0	Germany
2.	11/15/1997	Dusseldorf	Germany	3-0	South Africa
3.	09/07/2005	Bremen	Germany	4: 2	South Africa
4th	09/05/2009	Leverkusen	Germany	2-0	South Africa

So far there have been no international matches against Switzerland, Austria, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein.

See also

• List of international matches for the South African national football team
• South African National Football Team (U-17 Juniors)
• South African National Football Team (U-20 men)

Web links

Commons : South African national soccer team  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• SAFA website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The FIFA / Coca-Cola World Ranking. In: fifa.com. July 16, 2020, accessed July 21, 2020 . 
2. ^ Team history , website of the South African Football Association SAFA, viewed on June 2, 2009
3. ↑ History of South African Football on the FIFA website , viewed June 4, 2009
4. ↑ irishfa.com: Northern Ireland v. South Africa
5. ^ South Africa International Matches 1924 , statistics at the RSSSF , viewed on June 2, 2009
6. ^ South Africa International Matches 1947–1955 , statistics at the RSSSF, viewed on June 2, 2009
7. ↑ "We are going to set the world in flames. We have arrived." , quoted in Sport: Quotes of the week , The Independent, July 11, 1992, online version viewed June 5, 2009
8. ↑ What's in a name? , BBC Sport Online December 14, 2005, viewed June 5, 2009
9. ↑ President's seal of approval boosts Bafana , CAF website of June 14, 2009
10. ↑ South Africa - detailed squad 17/18 . ( transfermarkt.de [accessed on February 15, 2018]).
11. ↑ The placements from 5th place onwards were determined by FIFA without any placement games. See: All-time FIFA World Cup Ranking 1930-2010 (PDF; 200 kB)
12. ↑ ^{a b} rsssf.com: South Africa - International Appearances