South Africa national football team

The South Africa national football team (Afrikaans: Suid-Afrikaanse nasionale sokkerspan) represents South Africa in association football and is controlled by the South African Football Association, the governing body for football in South Africa. South Africa's home ground is Soccer City, known as FNB Stadium due to a naming rights deal, in Johannesburg. The team's current head coach is Pitso Mosimane. 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 and July 2010. The team's 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 from the first round of the tournament, becoming the first host nation 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.

History

Pre-1992

Football first arrived in South Africa through colonialism in the late nineteenth century, as the game was popular among British soldiers.^[4] 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.^[5] Thus the four nations (South Africa, Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan) founded the Confederation of African Football in 1956,^[5] 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 – and thus finally allowing South Africa to enter the qualifying stages for subsequent World Cups.^[6]

1992 to 1994

On 7 July 1992, the South African national team played its first game in two decades, beating Cameroon 1–0 at Kings Park in Durban.

The team entered the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and was placed in Group 5, along with Mauritius, Zambia and Zimbabwe. They won one game, away to Mauritius, and drew to Mauritius and Zimbabwe at home. The team finished third in the group and failed to qualify.

For the 1994 FIFA World Cup qualifiers South Africa was placed in Group D, along with Congo, Libya and Nigeria. Libya withdrew from the qualifiers. South Africa beat Congo home and away.The drew to Nigeria at home and lost away. South Africa finished second in the group, and failed to qualify for the next stage of the qualifiers.

1995 to 1998

They hosted (and won) the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations. The team were losing finalists at the 1998 Africa Cup of Nations. South Africa qualified for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, but failed to progress past the group stage.

1999 to 2002

The team lost during finished third at the 2000 Africa Cup of Nations and were progressed to the quarter finals at the 2002 Africa Cup of Nations. South Africa qualified for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, but failed to progress past the group stage.

2003 to 2006

The team was eliminated during the group stage at both the 2004 and 2006 Africa Cup of Nations.

2007 to 2010

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.

The former Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira 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,^[7] but was fired in late 2009. Carlos Alberto Parreira then returned to coach the team.

The team was eliminated during the group stage of the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations. They were losing semifinalists at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, but failed to qualify for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations.

During the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the team played a good tournament, despite not making it past the group stage. South Africa tied 1-1 with Mexico in the opener, scoring first. They lost 3-0 to Uruguay despite showing some promise early in the game. They were able to defeat France 2-1 mostly dominating the game, but because of goal difference, they could not advance to the Round of 16.

2011

South Africa failed to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations finals after the rules were misread.^[8] They ultimately played for and achieved a draw at home in Nelspruit against Sierra Leone in a game they needed to win, when news about Niger trailing in Egypt was received, leading to the qualification of Niger at their and also Sierra Leone expense. They then celebrated at the end as if they had qualified making it the second time they will be so embarrassed in 4 years after qualifying as a lucky 3rd and last best runners-up for the 2008 edition with Zambia catapulting over South Africa as Group winners after a 3-1 win in Cape Town - and thereby gaining an automatic qualifying ticket on head to head record with the South Africans erroneously thinking goal difference will be the primary tie-breaker.^[9]

The SABC also announced that the team had qualified and the SAFA president Kirsten Nematandani then congratulated the team on TV before realization dawned.^[10] SAFA said they would appeal to CAF but the appeal was later withdrawn.^[11][12]

Nickname

"Bafana Bafana" is a nickname given to the national side by its fans, it is Zulu and translates as "the boys, the boys". Its actual meaning [to those who understand Zulu deeply]'Go boys! Go boys !'

In July 1992, at Kingspark stadium in Durban fans shouted 'Bafana bafana' which means 'Go boys go boys' when South Africa was on the verge to beat Cameroon and also after the game then a group of three journalists from South Africa newspaper, The Sowetan, began to use the name in print media when referring to the team. The name was used informally, as SAFA felt that the name was not commercially viable, and that it was degrading to refer to a team of men as boys.^[13]

Standton Woodrush Ltd applied for a patent of the name in 1993. The name was patented granted, however it was for clothing only. In 1994, the team's technical sponsor at the time, Kappa, applied for the trademarks to the names "Bafana" and "Bafana Bafana" in class 25. These rights were granted, and subsequently passed on to SAFA. In 1997, SAFA filed for the trademark "Bafana Bafana" for all goods and services, in all classes.

SAFA then applied to have Standton Woodrush Ltd removed from the Trade Marks register, on the grounds that SAFA was the rightful owner of the name. The case was dismissed on the ground that SAFA was not an interested person within the meaning of this term as used in the Trade Marks Act No. 94 of 1993, which provides that only an interested party has legal standing to seek relief.

SAFA made another application to gain ownership of the trade mark, with the second application going to the Appeal Court. The court again found that SAFA did not have the grounds to ownership of the name in all classes. The court held that an intention to use a mark does not create a preference to registration, and that the proprietor of a trade mark need not be its originator.

In 2011 SAFA paid R5 million to Standton Woodrush Ltd. This allowed SAFA to own the rights to the name "Bafana Bafana" in class 25, and all other classes.^[14]

Home stadium

The South Africa national football team does not use a single stadium as its home stadium for matches. Instead, they use a variety of stadiums throughout South Africa to host matches at.

The largest venue used is the 94 700-seater Soccer City in Soweto, outside Johannesburg. Other often used venues include the Atteridgeville Super Stadium, outside Pretoria, the Royal Bafokeng Stadium, outside Rustenburg, the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein and Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban.

Matches have also been hosted at Ellis Park in Johannesburg, Kings Park in Durban, Cape Town Stadium and Newlands Stadium in Cape Town, Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium and the EPRU Stadium in Port Elizabeth, Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria, Orlando Stadium in Soweto, Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit, Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane and Hoffe Park Stadium in Kimberley.

The team has also hosted matches outside of South Africa. In preparation for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, the team hosted a friendly in Baiersbronn, Germany. As a warm-up for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, the team hosted a friendly at Mong Kok Stadium in Hong Kong. In 2006 the team hosted a Nelson Mandela Challenge match at Griffin Park, in London, England. During their preparations for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the team hosted two matches in Germany. The matches were played at the BRITA-Arena in Wiesbaden and the Stadion am Bieberer Berg in Offenbach am Main.

Media coverage

The South African Football Association owns the rights to national team matches played in South Africa. SAFA currently have a contract with the South African Broadcasting Corporation, to broadcast these matches. It is up to the SABC to procure the rights to matches played outside of the country.

The SABC usually shows most national team games, though they have often had problems with broadcasting weekday matches. They have previously used delayed live footage^[15] , and sometimes not shown matches.^[16]

Most large tournaments in which the team play, such as the FIFA World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations, have separate broadcast rights.Supersport purchase the pay tv rights to these tournaments, thus during these tournaments, they also show South African matches. The SABC usually holds the free to air rights to these tournaments, with the notable exception being the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Those matches were shown be e.tv.^[17]

Sponsors

The team's kit has traditionally been made up of combinations of the colours green and gold, the country's sporting colours. There was however, a period in the early 2000s, when the team wore a predominately white kit. The current home kit is mostly gold, while the away kit is mostly green.

When the team returned to international football in 1992, their kit was supplied by Italian clothing company, Kappa. The team wore Kappa kits up to and during the 1998 FIFA World Cup.^[18]

Since the 1998 World Cup, the kits for all South African national football teams have been supplied by German sports apparel company Adidas. The sponsorship deal is believed to be worth R14 million per year.^[19] Their contract with the South African Football Association runs until the end of 2010.

The team has two main sponsors, ABSA and South African Breweries, which sponsors the team under their Castle Lager brand. The team's techinal sponsor was Adidas, and its broadcast sponsor is the SABC. Other sponsors are AVIS, Coca-Cola, Internet Solutions, Mercedes-Benz South Africa , Netcare, South African Airways, SASOL, Southern Sun and Vodacom.^[20]

On 7 June 2011, SAFA announced Puma as its new technical sponsor and unveiled Bafana Bafana's new kit.^[21][22]

Recent and future matches

Last 5 matches

Upcoming matches

Players

Current squad

A 30-man squad has been selected for international friendlies against Equatorial Guinea, Zambia and Ghana at Nuevo Estadio de Malabo on 5 January, Lucas Moripe Stadium on 11 January and Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace on 15 January 2011 respectively.^[23]

Caps and goals updated as of 15 November 2011, following the match against Zimbabwe.

Recent call-ups

The following players were called up to a squad in the last 12 months. Caps, goals and club affiliations relate to the time at which the matches were played.

Notes

^INJ Player withdrew from the squad due to an injury.

Past squads

International record

FIFA World Cup Profile

Although South Africa has made three appearances in the World Cup, they have not made it past the first round. The team's first attempt to qualify as for the 1994 FIFA World Cup. The team finished second in their group, behind Nigeria, who went on to play at the World Cup. 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, the team finished third and thus exited the tournement. 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. The team finished third in their group, losing out to Paraguay on goal difference. The team failed to qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup after finishing third in their qualifying group. Ghana won the group and progressed to the tournement, while Congo DR finished ahead of South Africa on head to head results. During the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, they beat France 2–1 and drew 1–1 to Mexico, but lost 0–3 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

Technical team

Source:

Coaches since 1992

• Stanley Tshabalala (1992)
• Ephraim Mashaba (1992) and (2002–03)
• Augusto Palacios (1992–94)
• Clive Barker (1994–97)
• Jomo Sono (1998)¹ and (2002)²
• Philippe Troussier (1998)
• Trott Moloto (1998–00)
• Carlos Queiroz (2000–02)
• April Phumo (2004)
• Stuart Baxter (2004–05)
• Ted Dumitru (2005–06)
• Carlos Alberto Parreira (2007–08) and (2009–10)
• Joel Santana (2008–09)
• Pitso Mosimane (2006)³ and (2010–)

Player records

Honours

• Africa Cup of Nations: 1

1996

• COSAFA Cup: 2^1

2002, 2007, 2008^1

• FIFA Best Mover of the Year: 1

1996

References

External links

• South Africa FA official website