South Africa

South Africa, known as Bafana Bafana, are the only nation to have hosted a FIFA World Cup without qualifying for the event through the normal process, receiving automatic entry as 2010 hosts, and the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations champions.

Bafana Bafana play an energetic, physically committed game that draws from the domestic Premier Soccer League and a small number of European-based professionals. Percy Tau, who spent time at Brighton and Anderlecht before settling in Egypt with Al Ahly, has been the team’s most technically complete player of recent years. His intelligence in tight spaces and link-up play around the final third provide a quality that the rest of the squad builds around. Ronwen Williams has become one of the continent’s most reliable goalkeepers, a foundation that gave Bafana Bafana the confidence to reach the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations semi-finals.

South Africa’s most celebrated moment in football remains the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations, hosted and won on home soil with Nelson Mandela presenting the trophy. Mark Williams scored twice in the final against Tunisia. It was three years after the end of apartheid and two years into Mandela’s presidency. The political and cultural weight of that tournament and that victory has never been replicated in South African football since.

The 2010 World Cup hosting produced one memorable group stage match: South Africa defeated France 2-1, a result that eliminated France from the tournament in extraordinary, chaotic circumstances. Bongani Khumalo and Katlego Mphela scored. The atmosphere at Ellis Park was electric.

South Africa operates on South Africa Standard Time, UTC+2, with no daylight saving. A 20:00 kickoff in Johannesburg is 18:00 in London and 13:00 in New York. Check South Africa time for your local conversion.