about Bafana Bafana

Bafana Bafana is the South African national men’s soccer team which represents South Africa in international tournaments such as the African Nations Cup, FIFA World Cup and several other competitions. Bafana Bafana is run by the South African Football Association which is South Africa’s soccer governing body. The nickname ‘Bafana Bafana’ for the South Africa’s men’s national soccer team comes from the Zulu for ‘the boys.’

Whilst it is true that African soccer has been domintaed by North and West Africans, South Africa is one country outside these regions which is considered amongst the great African country because they have a rich winning history and the major highlight of Bafana Bafana was winning the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations which was held in South Africa. The South Africa national soccer team is one of the best in Southern Africa with quite a lot of COSAFA tournaments to its name.

Bafana Bafana’s first match came at the turn of the 20th century in 1906, the team later endured a lengthy absence on the world soccer scene only to return in 1992, Bafana Bafana  was banned by FIFA for 16 years and they were also suspended due to the apartheid system. Bafana Bafana played their first match in in over 2 decades in 1992 and it was an impressive 1-0 win over the indomitable lions of Cameroon.

Bafana Bafana Fixtures

Get the latest Bafana Bafana Fixtures and upcoming matches below. Always up to date

Bafana Bafana Tournament Performance

The South African national soccer team represented Africa at the world cup thrice now, they qualified for the world international soccer showpiece in 1998 and 2002, the team was also part of the 2010 FIFA World Cup by virtue of being the hosts. Hosting the FIFA World Cup was such a huge achievement by South Africa as it is the first and only African country to host this tournament. On all three occasions that Bafana Bafana qualified for the FIFA World Cup, they are yet to qualify to the knockout stages, but just being there is such a huge achievement because there are a lot of African countries who can only dream to be there.

Bafana Bafana has produced a number of stars over the years which have represented them very well and have also had stellar carriers in Europe for top European teams. Some of the great Bafana Bafana players include Lucas Radebe, Aaron Mokoena, Benni McCarthy, Steven Pienaar, Doctor Khumalo, Andre Arendse, Sizwe Motaung, John Moshoeu amongst several others. Most of these aforementioned players had stellar careers in Europe with Benni MacCarthy being arguably the one with the best European careers as he managed to win the UEFA Champions League as well as league titles in Europe.

Bafana Bafana has won several cups in their history including 1 African Cup of Nations cup which they won in 1996, 1 Afro-Asian Cup of nations in 1997 as well as 5 COSAFA Cups which were won from 2002 up to 2021.  

Top 5 Players

Bafana Bafana has a group of talented players at the moment and these players are plying their trade in several leagues across the world. Below is a list of their top 5 players at the moment;

Themba Zwane

Themba Zwane popularly known as Mshishi is a South African player who plays for both Mamelodi Sundowns and the South African national soccer team and is known for his dribbling ability. Zwane, who is a former Footballer of the season, joined Mamelodi Sundowns in the year 2011 from an amateur team and has had a stellar career with the Brazilians. Themba had a loan spell at Mpumalanga Black Aces before returning to establish himself in the Sundowns first team. He has scored over 40 goals in the PSL and has won numerous individual accolades at club level. Themba Zwane is also a Bafana Bafana player who started hi international career in the year 2014 and has had a total of 24 caps to date scoring 6 goals in the process.

Percy Tau

Percy Muzi Tau is a South African professional soccer player who plays for Egyptian Premier League club Al Ahly SC as a forward and the South African national team. Tau made a name for himself at Mamelodi Sundowns were he won the league title twice and the CAF Champions League once and was named Footballer of the Year and joint-top-goalscorer in his final season with the club. Percy Tau has turned out for some big European clubs such as Brighton and Hove Albion, Club Brugge amongst others, his stint in Europe was not as successful as people had hoped and he later joined Egyptian giants, Al Ahly. Percy Tau has been part of the Bafana Bafana setup since 2015 and he has registered a total of 13 goals and to be honest, the majority of Percy Tau’s goals are crucial ones for Bafana Bafana.

Keegan Dolly

Keagan Dolly is a South African professional soccer player who plays for Kaizer Chiefs and Bafana Bafana as an attacking midfielder. Keegan Dolly rose to prominense at Mamelodi Sundowns where he was part of an attacking trio called CBD with Billiat and Castro. His perfomances earned him a move to ligue 1 where he turned out for Montpellier but he never established himself in that league and then he returned to South Africa and joined Amakhosi. Since his return, Keegan Dolly has been putting on impressive perfomances and he will only get better in a Kaizer Chiefs team.  Keegan Dolly has represented the South African national team on different levels, that is, South Africa national team, South Africa U23 team and South Africa Olympics team, collectively, he has a total of 23 caps with a total of 2 goals to his name.

Innocent Maela

Innocent Maela is a South African player who plays for Orlando Pirates and the South African national football team as a defender. Maela joined Orlando Pirates in the year 2017 from Thanda Royal with whom he had made 82 league appearances scoring a total of five goals. Orlando Pirates has leadership qualities and this has seen him being named as the new club captain ahead of the 2022-23 DStv Premiership season. Maela’s first international cap came in the year 2017 and he has since represented Bafana Bafana on 8 occasions.

Thembinkosi Lorch

Thembinkosi Lorch is a top South African professional soccer player who plays for Orlando Pirates as an attacking midfielder, the midfield maestro also plays for Bafana Bafana which he has represented on several occasions. Thembinkosi Lorch has been an instrumental figure for Orlando Pirates and the year 2019 was his best season as he was named the South African Player of the Season and Players’ Player of the Season. Thembinkosi Lorch signed with Orlando Pirates in the year 2015 and he was loaned for the first two seasons but after his loan spells, he has been arguably Orlando Pirates most important player. Lorch has represented Bafana Bafana on 7 occasions and the highlight of his international career came in 2019 during the African Cup of Nations when he scored a goal in a 1-0 win against a Mohamed Salah inspired Egypt.

Current Ranking

Bafana Bafana is arguably the best side in Southern Africa as they are the one nation in this part of Africa which is revered in Africa. Below are the rankings for Bafana Bafana in Africa and the whole world.

Africa

Bafana Bafana is ranked number 12 out of 54 countries in Africa.

World

Bafana Bafana is ranked number 68 out of 211 countries in the world.

Bafana Bafana’s two biggest competitors

Senegal and Zimbabwe are two of Bafana Bafana’s biggest competitors, their matches with the warriors of Zimbabwe are always tough given the fact that they are neighbours and the players know each other extremely well. South Africa v Senegal matches are always fiercely contested, there have been rematches for these two teams in the past with accusations of match fixing.