Following their impressive display at this year’s AFCON tournament in Ivory Coast, Bafana Bafana moved to the top 10 in African rankings. Coach Hugo Broos guided Bafana to a third-place finish at the biennial continent showpiece behind champions, Ivory Coast and second-placed Nigeria.
The 1996 African champions moved up two places in the African rankings to 10th position, this is the highest since the Class of 1996 AFCON glory. Looking at the global standings and rankings, Bafana moved up eight places in the world rankings, marking a massive improvement.
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Bafana’s Latest Rankings Since 1996
The Belgian mentor, despite facing criticism before the continental tournament, Broos defied the odds and led the side to a second-place finish in Group E. In the knockout stages, Bafana managed to secure victories over top sides such as Cape Verde, Morocco, and Tunisia.
Looking at the past rankings, the Southern Africans have not been among the top-ranked teams on the continent for more than a decade as they have struggled to qualify for the AFCON showpiece and FIFA World Cup. However, Bafana’s stellar AFCON displays saw the side moving to the 58th position in the FIFA rankings from the 66th slot they occupied going into the tournament.
South Africa is the only country that moved into Africa’s top 10, taking the position of the Black Stars of Ghana, who are now placed 14th after their disastrous showing in Ivory Coast where they bombed out in the first round. Meanwhile, Lionel Messi’s Argentina remains the world’s number one as the reigning world champions and are followed by France, England, Belgium, and Brazil in the top five.
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Moving to the top 10 can benefit Bafana as the CAF is expected to conduct the draw this year for the 2025 AFCON that will be hosted in Morocco – dates are yet to be confirmed but the qualifiers will start in September.
Fresh from two draws against Andorra and Algeria in March friendlies, the 2010 FIFA World Cup hosts next official match will be away to the Super Eagles of Nigeria, the team that knocked them out in the AFCON semi-finals, in their third 2026 World Cup group stage qualifier on June 03.
Will Injuries Affect Bafana for the Nigeria Bumper Clash?
In a related post, Sport Plus published that Bafana will visit their West African counterparts, Nigeria in a highly anticipated 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier in June, will there be changes? As the Belgian coach Broos is expected to announce his squad in the next few weeks, Bafana could have new faces considering that the squad is hit by injuries.
Bafana played Andorra and Algeria last month and there were notable absentees in the national side. The likes of Percy Tau, Lebo Mothiba, and Evidence Makgopa are some of the players who missed the FIFA series’ friendly matches.
While SAFA is yet to announce the venue and kick-off time for the other match against Zimbabwe, the FNB Stadium or Moses Mabhida could be announced as the venue considering the nature of the match.
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