South Africa national football team
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| Nickname(s) | Bafana Bafana (The Boys) |
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| Association | South African Football Association |
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| Sub-confederation | COSAFA | ||
| Confederation | CAF (Africa) | ||
| Head coach | Pitso Mosimane | ||
| Captain | Aaron Mokoena | ||
| Most caps | Aaron Mokoena (104) | ||
| Top scorer | Benni McCarthy (31) | ||
| Home stadium | Soccer City | ||
| FIFA code | RSA | ||
| FIFA ranking | 66 | ||
| Highest FIFA ranking | 16 (August 1996) | ||
| Lowest FIFA ranking | 124 (December 1992) | ||
| Elo ranking | 52 | ||
| Highest Elo ranking | 21 (9) (September 1996 (October 1955)[1]) | ||
| Lowest Elo ranking | 94 (May 2006) | ||
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| First international | |||
.svg.png){kind=small} Argentina 0–1 South Africa  (Buenos Aires, Argentina; 9 July 1906) |
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| Biggest win | |||
 Australia 0–8 South Africa  (Adelaide, Australia; September 17 1955) |
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| Biggest defeat | |||
| Australia 5–1 South Africa (Newcastle, Australia; 7 June 1947)  Mexico 4–0 South Africa (Los Angeles, USA; 6 October 1993)  USA 4–0 South Africa  (Washington, USA; 3 June 2000)  Nigeria 4–0 South Africa (Monastir, Tunisia; 31 January 2004) |
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| World Cup | |||
| Appearances | 3 (First in 1998) | ||
| Best result | Round 1, 1998, 2002 and 2010 | ||
| African Nations Cup | |||
| Appearances | 7 (First in 1996) | ||
| Best result | Winners, 1996 | ||
| Confederations Cup | |||
| Appearances | 2 (First in 1997) | ||
| Best result | 4th place, 2009 | ||
The South Africa national football team or Bafana Bafana (a Zulu term of endearment which means "the boys") is the national team of South Africa and is controlled by the South African Football Association (SAFA). They returned to the world stage in 1992, after years of being banned from FIFA due to the apartheid system. In 2010, South Africa became the first African nation to host the FIFA World Cup when it hosted the 19th FIFA World Cup in June 2010. Siphiwe Tshabalala was also the first person to score in this World Cup during the opening game against Mexico. Despite defeating France 2–1 in their final game of the Group Stage, they failed to progress to the next round of the tournament, becoming the first host nation not to do so. South Africa had hosted the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2009. The team's highest achievement was winning the African Cup of Nations at home in 1996.
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History
Football first arrived in South Africa through colonialism in the late nineteenth century, as the game was popular among British soldiers.[2] From the earliest days of the sport in South Africa until the end of apartheid, organised football was affected by the country's system of racial segregation. The all-white Football Association of South Africa (FASA), was formed in 1892, while the South African Indian Football Association (SAIFA), the South African Bantu Football Association (SABFA) and the South African Coloured Football Association (SACFA) were founded in 1903, 1933 and 1936 respectively.
South Africa was one of four African nations to attend FIFA's 1953 congress, at which the four demanded, and won, representation on the FIFA executive committee.[3] Thus the four nations (South Africa, Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan) founded the Confederation of African Football in 1956,[3] and the South African representative, Fred Fell, sat at the first meeting as a founding member. It soon became clear however that South Africa's constitution prohibited racially mixed teams from competitive sport and so they could only send either an all-black side or an all-white side to the planned 1957 African Cup of Nations. This was unacceptable to the other members of the Confederation and South Africa were disqualified from the competition, however some sources say that they withdrew voluntarily.
At the second CAF conference in 1958 South Africa were formally expelled from CAF. The all-white (FASA) were admitted to FIFA in the same year, but in August 1960 it was given an ultimatum of one year to fall in line with the non-discriminatory regulations of FIFA. On 26 September 1961 at the annual FIFA conference, the South African association was formally suspended from FIFA. Sir Stanley Rous, president of The Football Association of England and a champion of South Africa's FIFA membership, was elected FIFA President a few days later. Rous was adamant that sport, and FIFA in particular, should not embroil itself in political matters and against fierce opposition he continued to resist attempts to expel South Africa from FIFA. The suspension was lifted in January 1963 after a visit to South Africa by Rous in order to investigate the state of football in the country.
Rous declared that if the suspension were not lifted, football there would be discontinued, possibly to the point of no recovery. The next annual conference of FIFA in October 1964 took place in Tokyo and was attended by a larger contingent of representatives from African and Asian associations and here the suspension of South Africa's membership was re-imposed. In 1976, after the Soweto uprising, they were formally expelled from FIFA.
In 1991, when the apartheid system was beginning to be demolished, a new multi-racial South African Football Association was formed, and admitted to FIFA. On 7 July 1992, the South African national team played their first game in two decades, beating Cameroon 1–0. South Africa made the 1998 and 2002 World Cups, but failed to qualify past the group stage both times. They hosted (and won) the 1996 African Nations Cup and are hosting the 2010 World Cup, the first African nation to do so.
South Africa failed to impress local supporters by not scoring a single goal in the African Nations Cup of 2006. In light of these poor performances it was decided that the hiring of a more experienced manager was essential. Rumours began to fly, prior to the 2006, that England coach Sven-Göran Eriksson was to be the man for the job, with SAFA apparently offering him R30 million to take Bafana Bafana to glory in 2010. However this has since been denied. More recently the former Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira has accepted the job. He signed a R100 million contract covering four years. His term as manager started 1 January 2007 targeting the 2010 World Cup but he resigned in April 2008 due to family reasons. Joel Santana signed to coach until 2010,[4] but was fired in late 2009. Carlos Alberto Parreira then returned to coach the team.
Recent and future matches
Last 5 matches
| Date | Team | Result | Score | Type | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 September 2010 |  Niger |
W | 2-0 | 2012 ANC qualifier | Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit, South Africa |
| 11 August 2010 |  Ghana |
W | 1-0 | Friendly | Soccer City, Johannesburg, South Africa |
| 22 June 2010 |  France |
W | 2–1 | Group Match | Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein, South Africa |
| 16 June 2010 |  Uruguay |
L | 0–3 | Group Match | Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria, South Africa |
| 11 June 2010 | Mexico |
D | 1–1 | Group Match | Soccer City, Johannesburg, South Africa |
Upcoming matches
| Date | Team | Result | Score | Type | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 October 2010 |  Sierra Leone |
2012 ANC qualifier | Brookfields Stadium, Freetown, Sierra Leone |
Current squad
A 25 man squad was called up for a 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Niger, at Mbombela Stadium on 4 September 2010.
International recordFIFA World Cup ProfileAlthough South Africa has made three appearances in the World Cup, they have not made it past the first round. Their first appearance was in France 1998, six years after they had been readmitted to the global football family. Despite a 3–0 drubbing to France in their opening game, they went on to draw against Denmark and Saudi Arabia. Korea/Japan 2002 was expected to be an opportunity for Bafana Bafana to step up to the next level but they were eliminated at the group stage despite drawing to Paraguay and beating Slovenia 1–0 for their first-ever World Cup win. During the 2010 World Cup, they beat France and drew to Mexico, but lost to Uruguay. They lost out on progression to the round of 16, on goal difference, for their second World Cup in a row. FIFA World Cup
FIFA Confederations Cup
Africa Cup of Nations
Former coaches
Most capped playersAaron Mokoena became the first South African player to reach 100 caps on 31 May 2010, against Guatemala: to celebrate he wore kit numbered 100.
Top goalscorers
Honours
References
External links
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