Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos says South Africa’s national team has earned the right to compete at next year’s FIFA World Cup after two years of consistent effort and progress. Speaking as the squad assembled in Roodepoort this week, Broos expressed full confidence in his players ahead of their decisive qualifiers this month.

South Africa topped Group C in the Africa qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup and seemed certain of qualifying. However, they were penalised for fielding an ineligible player in a qualifier against Lesotho, which saw their 3-0 victory being officially recorded as a 2-0 loss as a consequence.

They are now second in the group behind Benin after the ruling. Topping the group guarantees automatic qualification for the World Cup.

South Africa has two games left. They face Zimbabwe in Durban tomorrow and Rwanda in Nelspruit on Tuesday.

South Africa can still be sure of automatic qualification if they win those two games and Benin loses or draws at least one of its last two matches. If they fail to automatically reach the tournament they could still go through to a second round of qualification.

“There are no doubts, there have never been any doubts from my side, and I will try to transfer this to the players,” Broos said. “I believe in this group and I am sure that they will do everything in their power to win that game on Friday. Why should we doubt ourselves now after our performances in the qualifiers? If there is a team that deserves to go to the World Cup, it is South Africa.”

South Africa last played in a Football World Cup when it hosted the tournament in 2010.