The aspirations of the South African national football team, the Bafana Bafana, for the upcoming World Cup have been dealt a significant blow after the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) disciplinary committee announced a severe sanction.
The world football governing body confirmed on Monday that South Africa has been stripped of three points in their ongoing World Cup qualifying campaign for fielding an ineligible player.
The ruling stems from the Bafana Bafana’s 2-0 victory against Lesotho in a crucial Group C qualifier played in March. FIFA’s disciplinary investigation found that South Africa illegally played midfielder Teboho Mokoena, who was ineligible to participate.
According to the findings, Mokoena had accumulated two cautions (yellow cards) in previous Group C fixtures, which mandated that he serve an automatic one-match suspension against Lesotho.
Despite this rule, the Mamelodi Sundowns player was featured in the starting lineup for the match. Coach Hugo Broos had previously acknowledged the administrative lapse, stating, “We did something bad, we did something we shouldn’t do.”
In applying its disciplinary code, FIFA has deemed the match automatically forfeited. Consequently, the result of the encounter has been overturned, and Lesotho is officially awarded a 3-0 victory against South Africa.
In addition to the three-point deduction, the South African Football Association (SAFA) has been issued a fine of 10,000 Swiss Francs ($12,536.04), while the player, Mokoena, received a formal warning.
The deduction has drastically altered the dynamics of Group C. South Africa, having lost the points from the Lesotho match, is now level with Benin on 14 points at the top of the standings, with the group leadership decided by goal difference.
Meanwhile, group favorites Nigeria and Rwanda now sit only three points behind the joint leaders, intensifying the race for the single automatic qualification ticket to the finals in North America.
The resolution of the matter was long-awaited, with FIFA receiving criticism for taking nearly seven months to settle the administrative issue.
This delay had prompted frustration from other teams in the group, including Benin’s coach, Gernot Rohr, who questioned the fairness of not having the correct log table situation determined before recent fixtures.
The case mirrors previous instances in African World Cup qualifying, such as the 2018 cycle where FIFA deducted three points from the Super Eagles of Nigeria for fielding an ineligible Shehu Abdullahi in a 1-1 draw against Algeria (later overturned to a 3-0 loss for Nigeria), and the 2014 qualifiers where the Cape Verde Islands lost out on a playoff spot after using a suspended player, Fernando Varela, allowing Tunisia to advance instead.
The two remaining rounds of qualifiers, scheduled for the following month, will now be pivotal, with South Africa set to face Zimbabwe away and Rwanda at home, while Benin travels to Rwanda and concludes their campaign against neighbouring Nigeria.
