Sixteen years after last standing firmly in the global sporting spotlight, South Africa returns to the World Cup arena and the full glare of global attention.
Unlike 2010, however, when the country hosted the tournament and captured the attention of the world for a full month, this time it will be but a fleeting 90 minutes.
By pure luck, Bafana Bafana were drawn from 47 countries to play co-hosts Mexico in the opening game of the 2026 finals on June 11, giving the South African players a glittering stage on which to shine.
The first fixture of the expanded 48-team, 104-match World Cup, co-hosted by Canada, Mexico, and the US, is expected to be watched by between 1-billion and 1.5-billion people across traditional TV and streaming platforms, according to world football governing body Fifa.
If ever there was a shop window to display your talents, it is the clash at the Estadio Azteca, where Pelé’s 1970 Brazilians won the World Cup in free-flowing style and Diego Maradona dribbled through the English in 1986 to score one of the greatest goals ever.
The Mexicans have renovated the venue and expanded the capacity to 87,500, increasing the already deafening noise and aggressive atmosphere that the South Africans will be subjected to.
It will be intimidating, but many of the squad, notably those players from Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates who have competed in the African Champions League, have faced much the same on trips to North Africa.
Not that the game is going to be won by whoever is less faint-hearted. South Africa will be huge underdogs and given little chance, which could prove a positive because there will be no burden of expectation.
Mexico have a consistent record of getting through the first stage of the World Cup and will be the team fancied to top the Group A standings.
The other protagonists are the Czech Republic, whom South Africa go up against in Atlanta on June 18, and South Korea, whom Bafana meet in Monterrey on June 24.
The top two teams advance, but now with the expanded field, there is also a place in the last-32 knockout round for the eight best third-placed finishers across the 12 first-round groups. In other words, only 16 teams are going home after the opening phase, and you’d have had a really bad tournament to fall into that category.
South Africa’s men have never advanced past the opening stage in their three previous World Cup appearances. In 2010, they suffered the ignominy of becoming the first World Cup hosts to be eliminated at the first hurdle — a humiliating feat Qatar matched four years ago.
Bafana’s ambition — and it is a realistic one — is to make the knockout stage, which will start on June 28.
The 26-man squad head to Mexico on Monday June 1 to adjust to the altitude. While all South African players have plenty of experience performing in thin air, Joburg’s altitude of 1,700m does not compare with the lung-busting 2,240m that Mexico City sits at, and coach Hugo Broos wants adequate time to prepare at their base camp in Puebla (2,160m) before the opening game.
Broos played for Belgium in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. His team went all the way to the semifinals, and he feels acclimatisation is vital, though it is surely not as necessary for South Africans as it might be for those who live and play at sea level.
But 10 days of pre-tournament training away from home distractions would be an excellent opportunity to work on strategy and set pieces and build team morale. Squad selection these days takes into account much more than players’ personality and adaptability, and that is why several potential candidates have been left behind.
Bafana’s ambition — and it is a realistic one — is to make the knockout stage
Anything gained from the game against Mexico must be considered a bonus, but there will be real disappointment if South Africa don’t win or even draw against the Czechs and the Koreans.
The Czech Republic were among the last qualifiers, scraping through the European playoffs with two penalty shootouts. They are arguably the weakest of the 16 European teams at the World Cup, having finished a distant second to Croatia in their qualifying group and losing to the tiny Faroe Islands in one of the biggest shocks of the preliminaries.
South Korea are highly ranked, inside the world top 25, but their ageing team have suffered a slump in form, and their key player, Son Heung-min, is past his prime. The former Tottenham Hotspur ace is now playing in Major League Soccer for Los Angeles FC.
One morale-boosting fact is that Mamelodi Sundowns beat the Korean champions when they met in Orlando, Florida, at last year’s Club World Cup. It was an emphatic win too.
While we wait to see whether Bafana will win the key clashes, qualification for the World Cup is already a huge fillip for the domestic game.
Combined with Sundowns’ success in the African Champions League and the exciting conclusion to the Premier Soccer League season, South African football is looking a lot brighter than it did a decade ago in the post-2010 slump.
The South African Football Association (Safa), which has teetered on the brink of bankruptcy several times, will earn a huge windfall from World Cup qualification, with Fifa now handing over 15% more than it had planned.
Preparation money for the national teams competing at the 2026 World Cup has risen from $1.5m to $2.5m per team after some European nations raised concerns that the high costs of travel, operations and tax in the US would result in them losing money.
Fifa president Gianni Infantino is all too aware of where the votes will come from for his re-election next year and hastily agreed to increase prize money and participation fees.
Qualification compensation goes from $9m to $10m, meaning a direct income of $12.5m for Safa, which has been laying off staff and is being pursued by creditors.
Clubs also benefit from a separate pot of money, and in the case of Bafana Bafana, it is happy days for Sundowns and Pirates, who provide the bulk of the squad.
Clubs earn money for every day their players are at the World Cup — $12,000–$15,000 per player per day, from the start of national team camp until the day of elimination from the tournament.
So the longer Bafana stay in the tournament, the more those clubs providing players to the squad will earn.
The clubs will use the money to advance their future chances with better players and coaches, but how Safa elects to spend the windfall is crucial to continued progress.
It will need to spend on a high-profile coach to replace the 74-year-old Broos, who is quitting the game after the World Cup to spend time with his grandchildren in Bruges.
Money is also needed to improve preparation and competition for the under-20 and under-17 teams, which are invaluable feeders for Bafana.
More investment in women’s football is required too. There is the chance in August for South Africa to secure qualification for a third successive Women’s World Cup in Brazil next year. Banyana Banyana got out of the first-round group and qualified for the knockout rounds at the previous World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, achieving more than the men at such tournaments.
Matching Banyana’s feat is another motivation for the men to break new ground over the next month.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.