BAFANA BAFANA THROUGH TO WORLD CUP

For the first time since 2010, South Africa is through to the FIFA World Cup.

Hugo Broos’ team narrowly reached the top spot in their qualifying group with their 3-0 win over Rwanda on Tuesday.

Nigeria was second in the log, and Benin, which was hoping to qualify for its first World Cup, came in third.

There are still two other automatic qualifying spots left for the African sides. The match between Senegal and DR Congo from Group B, as well as the match between Ivory Coast and Gabon from Group F, will be decided next week.

South Africa’s qualifying comes as a relief after FIFA fined the South Africa Football Association R200,000 and awarded Lesotho a 3-0 victory over Bafana Bafana.

Based on Article 19 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code and Article 14 of the competition’s regulations, FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee ruled that Teboho Mokoena shouldn’t have been allowed on the field during the match against Lesotho in March.  

The FIFA World Cup is scheduled to be hosted in March next year. Three countries, namely Canada, the United States and Mexico, will be hosting the tournament together.

Next year’s tournament will be the first expanded 48-team tournament.

Image credit: News24