🏆 South Africa national football team 2026 World Cup Squads

The South Africa national soccer team represents South Africa in men's international soccer and is run by the South African Football Association, the governing body for soccer in South Africa. Nicknamed Bafana Bafana (lit. \"Young Men\" in Zulu), the team plays at various stadiums around the country. The team, a member of both FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF), is one of the most well-supported national sides in Africa, and are recognised by their traditional green and gold kits.

Having played their first match in 1906, South Africa returned to the world stage in 1992, after sixteen years of being banned from FIFA, and forty years of effective suspension due to the apartheid system. South Africa have qualified for the FIFA World Cup four times: 1998, 2002 and 2026, and qualifying as hosts of the 2010 tournament, becoming the first African nation to do so. Despite defeating France 2–1 in their final game of the group stage, they failed to progress from the first round of the tournament, becoming the first host nation in the history of the FIFA World Cup to exit in the group stage, followed by Qatar in 2022. As of August 2026, the team is ranked 54th in FIFA International Rankings.

South Africa's most significant achievement came in 1996 when they hosted and won the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON). They reached the final again in 1998 but were defeated by Egypt. Later in 2000, they earned a bronze medal (third place) by defeating Tunisia (2-2 a.e.t, 4-3 on penalties) and in 2023 earned another bronze medal (third place) by defeating DR CONGO (0-0 a.e.t; 6-5 on penalties)