South Africa

Football first arrived in South Africa through colonialism in the late nineteenth century, as the game was popular among British soldiers. From the earliest days of the sport in South Africa until the end of apartheid, organised soccer 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 Black Football Association (SACFA) were founded in 1903, 1933 and 1936 respectively.

In 1903 the SAFA re-affiliated with the English Football Association after the Second Boer War between the British Empire and the Boer state. There was a plan to play a tournament held in Argentina, with South Africa and Fulham as guest teams, but it was not carried out. Nevertheless, South Africa traveled to South America in 1906 to play a series of friendly matches there.

South Africa played a total of 12 matches in South America, winning 11 with 60 goals scored and only 7 conceded. Opponents included Belgrano A.C., the Argentina national team, a combined Liga Rosarina, Estudiantes (BA) and Quilmes. The only team that defeated South Africa was Argentina's Alumni 1–0 at Sociedad Sportiva stadium in Buenos Aires, on 24 June, although the South Africans would take revenge on 22 July, defeating them 2–0. The players were exclusively white, civil servants, government employees, bankers and civil engineers. Seven of the 15 players were born in South Africa and 8 originated from England and Scotland.

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. Thus the four nations (South Africa, Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan) founded the Confederation of African Football in 1956, 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 was 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 soccer in the country.

Rous declared that if the suspension were not lifted, soccer 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.

After spending nearly two decades in international isolation, the South African national team played its first game on 7 July 1992, beating Cameroon 1–0 at Kings Park in Durban.

The team entered the 1994 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 with 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 finished second in the group, and failed to qualify for the next stage of qualifying.

In 1996, a mere five years after readmission, South Africa achieved their finest moment when they hosted and won the 1996 African Cup of Nations, in the process of reaching 16th in the FIFA rankings.

The shock firing of AFCON-winning coach Clive Barker did little to slow momentum as they followed their 1996 success with a second-place finish at the 1998 Africa Cup of Nations behind Egypt under Jomo Sono. The team had earned their first appearance at the FIFA World Cup, qualifying for France '98. Under head coach Philippe Troussier, South Africa suffered a 3–0 defeat to hosts France in their World Cup debut, and drew against Denmark and Asian juggernauts Saudi Arabia 1–1 and 2–2 respectively on their way to an early exit.

Under newly hired coach Trott Moloto, South Africa started the decade off strongly, finishing third in the 2000 Africa Cup of Nations; despite this, another coaching change was made. Portuguese Carlos Queiroz was hired as the man to take South Africa to the 2002 FIFA World Cup. South Africa qualified for the 2002 AFCON and were eliminated in the quarter-finals against hosts Mali. In the run-up to the World Cup, in which South Africa had easily qualified as winners of Group E, Queiroz left his post as head coach amid increasing behind-the-scenes political wrangling.

Former legend Jomo Sono was brought back in a caretaker capacity to lead South Africa in Korea/Japan. Placed in Group B along with Spain, Paraguay and debutants Slovenia, South Africa earned a 2–2 draw against Paraguay in their opening game with a last-gasp penalty from Quinton Fortune and followed that up with their first-ever victory at the finals with a 1–0 win over Slovenia. South Africa headed into their final game against Spain second in the group and three points clear of Paraguay and Slovenia. In arguably the game of the group,^[] in which five goals were scored inside the hour, South Africa twice came from a goal down in an agonising 3–2 defeat to the Spanish. In the other game, which kicked off at the same time, Paraguay found themselves beating Slovenia 3–1, with Paraguay's goal difference enough for them to surpass South Africa.

South Africa would go through 4 head coaches between the 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cups: Ephraim Mashaba (2002–2004), April Phumo (2004), Stuart Baxter (2004–2005), Ted Dumitru (2005–2006) and caretaker Pitso Mosimane (2006). None of them were able to match the success seen in the late 1990s and early 2000s, as South Africa failed to progress beyond the group stages in either the 2004 or 2006 Africa Cups of Nations, failing to register a single goal in the latter, with South Africa failing to qualify for the World Cup. After being placed in Group 2 for qualifying, South Africa missed the tournament in Germany by finishing behind Ghana.^[]

Former World Cup winner and Brazil national team coach Carlos Alberto Parreira was approached for the job, and he accepted. He signed a R100 million contract covering four years. His term as manager started 1 January 2007 targeting the 2010 FIFA World Cup, which South Africa had been awarded the right to host. He resigned as coach in April 2008 due to family reasons. Joel Santana was hand-picked by Parreira to succeed him and he was signed to coach the team until 2010.

The World Cup hosts failed to qualify for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, and Parreira would return in time for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup – also hosted by South Africa. The national team would see an improvement in performance, holding its own against eventual world champions Spain and perennial powerhouse Brazil, the latter requiring an 88th-minute goal to overcome South Africa in the semi-finals. South Africa would ultimately finish 4th, following a thrilling 3–2 loss to the Spanish in the third-place match.^[]

As World Cup hosts, South Africa was placed in Group A, along with Mexico, Uruguay and 2006 runners-up France. South Africa played the first game, which opened the World Cup 2010 tournament with a 1–1 draw against Mexico after taking the lead through a long-range Siphiwe Tshabalala strike. A heavy 3–0 defeat in the second group game against Uruguay and a Mexican win over France left South Africa with a mountain to climb in order to progress beyond the group stage. Despite defeating France, elimination in the group stage made South Africa become the first host to fail to progress beyond the first round of the World Cup.

Following the conclusion of the World Cup and the expiration of his contract, Carlos Alberto Parreira announced his retirement from coaching. As part of his contract, Parreira had also drawn up a plan of recommendations extending as far as soccer development at grassroots level that SAFA was encouraged to review in the hopes of reviving the fortunes of the national football team.^[]

South Africa failed to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations finals after the rules were misread. 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 expense, and also at Sierra Leone's. They then celebrated at the end as if they had qualified, making it the second time they would 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 the head-to-head record with the South Africans erroneously thinking goal difference would be the primary tie-breaker.

The SABC also announced that the team had qualified and the SAFA president Kirsten Nematandani then congratulated the team on TV before realisation dawned. SAFA said they would appeal to CAF but the appeal was later withdrawn.

South Africa continued to disappoint into 2012, opening the year with a lacklustre 0–0 draw away to 2012 Africa Cup of Nations co-hosts Equatorial Guinea. This would be the start of a run that would see Bafana Bafana rack up 6 successive draws to start the year. The run of draws included 1–1, 0–0 and 1–1 draws at home to African champions Zambia, Ghana and Senegal respectively in International Friendlies. Following a 1–1 draw at home to Ethiopia in a 2014 World Cup qualifier, head coach Pitso Mosimane was fired. The draw increased South Africa's streak to 7 games without a win. Mosimane was replaced as head coach by Steve Komphela on an interim basis while SAFA interviewed potential candidates to fill the post on a permanent basis.

In his first game in charge as interim head coach, Komphela oversaw yet another uninspired performance in South Africa's second World Cup qualifier against Botswana as they drew yet again, extending their winless run to 8 games. Bafana Bafana finally tasted victory when they defeated Gabon 3–0 at home in a friendly, ending their winless streak.

Following the crisis in Libya throughout 2011, CAF made the decision to move the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations from Libya – who were the original hosts – to South Africa. Libya was then given the right to host the 2017 edition of the tournament, which was originally awarded to South Africa. The 2013 hosts were seeded and drawn in Group A along with Angola, Morocco and tournament debutants Cape Verde.

South Africa faced Group B runners-up Mali in the quarterfinals, being eliminated from the tournament 3–1 on penalties.

They received a First round bye when the qualifying process for the 2014 FIFA World Cup began on 30 July 2011. For the second round of the qualifying process, South Africa was placed in Pot 1 as a top-seeded nation for the draw from where they were drawn into Group A, along with neighbours Botswana, the Central African Republic and Ethiopia.

On 19 June 2013 it was reported in the South African press that Ethiopia had fielded an ineligible player against South Africa, who would possibly win 3–0 as a result. Despite this, Ethiopia were never punished, and South Africa failed to qualify for the tournament.

South Africa were eliminated in the group stage at the 2015 AFCON and failed to qualify for the tournament two years later. This, in addition to various controversies, disparaging remarks that Mashaba allegedly made about SAFA top officials, his supposedly arrogant nature and his ill-treatment of overseas-based stars, led to his suspension after leading South Africa to a 2–1 victory over Senegal in a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier.

After being unable to reach the 2018 FIFA World Cup, South Africa qualified for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations finishing second and undefeated, with a 2–0 away win over Nigeria. They were grouped with Morocco, Ivory Coast and Namibia, and narrowly qualified to the knockout stage with only a single 1–0 win over Namibia, facing hosts Egypt. The South Africans then pulled out the biggest upset in the tournament,^[] knocking Egypt out in the round of 16 stage with a 1–0 win in Cairo. Then, South Africa once again faced Nigeria in the quarter-finals, with the latter prevailing 2–1.

Under Molefi Ntseki, South Africa failed to qualify for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations. Molefi Ntseki was promptly sacked and the Hugo Broos was announced as his replacement.

Qualifying for the 2022 FIFA World Cup began with South Africa in a group with Ghana, Zimbabwe, and Ethiopia. South Africa got off to a promising start, beating a weakened Ghana side 1–0 at home on Matchday 2 and going to the top of the group. South Africa remained at the top of the group until the final matchday when they lost 0–1 away to Ghana after a dubious penalty was awarded to Ghana in the first half. South Africa ultimately finished second to Ghana on goals scored, narrowly missing out on qualification for the final 10-team playoff round to qualify for the World Cup. South Africa qualified to the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations after beating Liberia 2–1.

The 2023 AFCON was held in January 2024 in Côte d'Ivoire, with Bafana Bafana reaching the semi-finals after being placed in Group E alongside Mali, Namibia and Tunisia. Despite being docked three points in qualifying after fielding an ineligible player, South Africa qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North America.

On 5 December 2025, South Africa were drawn into Group A of the 2026 World Cup, and will play against Mexico, South Korea, and the winner of UEFA Path D. South Africa will open the tournament against Mexico at the Estadio Azteca on 11 June 2026. This will be the second time that South Africa has played in the opening game of the tournament, the first being in 2010, when South Africa played against the same opponent, Mexico.