The chances of South Africa to get to the 2026 FIFA World Cup have been severely impacted after the country was sanctioned for fielding an ineligible player in their qualifier against Lesotho earlier this year.
The FIFA Disciplinary Committee decision is that one can understand only when reading the full statement, they decided that the Mittelfeldspieler Teboho Mokoena should not have been a participant in the game on March 21, 2025, incident hence violations of Article 19 of the Disciplinary Code and Article 14 of the competition regulations were cited. Therefore, the match has been turned over, with Lesotho being given a 3-0 victory.
Alongside the forfeiture, South African Football Association (SAFA) was given a CHF 10,000 (around R200,000) fine, while Mokoena was issued a formal warning. FIFA confirmed that SAFA has ten days to submit an appeal against the decision, with the sanction being the option to be implemented for the time being.
The verdict becomes a huge setback in the Bafana Bafana qualification journey as it loses the lead to them being in second place in Group C. As a result, they are now on equal points with Benin Republic but are placed behind them going into the last round of matches.
South Africa needs to move on with the least possible delay and overcome the critical away test against Zimbabwe on October 10. The Benin-Rwanda encounter on the same day may be the factor that tips the balance in this group.
