South Africa’s National Men’s Football Team head coach Hugo Broos says the team believed in its ability to qualify to the 2026 FIFA World Cup despite the huge odds stuck against the country.
South Africa needed a win over Rwanda and also needed Nigeria to beat Benin in the final round of qualifiers in Group C to progress to next year’s World Cup.
The permutations went according to plan as the Bafana Bafana beat Rwanda 3-0 as Nigeria hammered Benin 4-0 in Uyo. Benin needed a win or a draw to qualify but ended up finishing third in the group.
South Africa had three points deducted from their points tally for fielding an unqualified player by FIFA in the penultimate round of the qualifiers.
Speaking after the game to SABC Sport, Broos was happy with the qualification and stressed the belief his team had throughout the undulating campaign.
Bafana Bafana are worldwide. 🌍
South Africa are our 7th representatives at the 2026 #FIFAWorldCup 🇿🇦✅ pic.twitter.com/HPeQUW2ouQ
— CAF_Online (@CAF_Online) October 14, 2025
“It feels wonderful. We all knew we could do it. We believed in ourselves and I think it showed from the beginning of the game that we wanted to win this game. Nigeria did what they had to do and we did what we had to do so we’re going to the World Cup, it’s fantastic” he said.
🇿🇦 16 years since hosting, @BafanaBafana will be back at the #FIFAWorldCup!@aramco | #WeAre26 pic.twitter.com/WxBEVqo1hC
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) October 14, 2025
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🎙️ ℂ𝕆𝔸ℂℍ’𝕊 ℝ𝔼𝔸ℂ𝕋𝕀𝕆ℕ 🎙️
🗣️ “𝙸𝚝 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕𝚜 𝚠𝚘𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚞𝚕 – 𝚠𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚔𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝚠𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚍𝚘 𝚒𝚝!”
Bafana Bafana coaching reacting to their win over Rwanda and qualifying for the 2026 #FIFAWorldCup!#SABCSportFootball #FIFAWCQ pic.twitter.com/tlGYn7vWU0
— SABC Sport (@SABC_Sport) October 14, 2025
