South Africa national football team

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
South Africa
Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s) Bafana Bafana
(The Boys, The Boys)
Association South African
Football Association
Confederation CAF (Africa)
Head coach Flag of Brazil Joel Santana
Captain Aaron Mokoena
Most caps Aaron Mokoena (75)
Top scorer Benni McCarthy (30)
Home stadium First National Bank Stadium
FIFA code RSA
FIFA ranking 73
Highest FIFA ranking 16 (August 1996)
Lowest FIFA ranking 109 (August 1993)
Elo ranking 91
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
Home colours
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
Away colours
First international
Flag of the Netherlands Netherlands 2 - 1 South Africa Flag of South Africa
(Amsterdam, Netherlands; 2 November 1924)
Biggest win
Flag of Australia Australia 0 - 8 South Africa Flag of South Africa
(Adelaide, Australia; 17 September 1955)
Biggest defeat
Flag of Australia Australia 5 - 1 South Africa Flag of South Africa
(Newcastle, Australia; 7 June 1947)
Flag of Mexico Mexico 4 - 0 South Africa Flag of South Africa
(Los Angeles, USA; 6 October 1993)
Flag of the United States USA 4 - 0 South Africa Flag of South Africa
(Washington, USA; 3 June 2000)
Flag of Nigeria Nigeria 4 - 0 South Africa Flag of South Africa
(Monastir, Tunisia; 31 January 2004)
World Cup
Appearances 2 (First in 1998)
Best result Round 1, 1998 and 2002
African Nations Cup
Appearances 7 (First in 1996)
Best result Winners, 1996
Confederations Cup
Appearances 1 (First in 1997)
Best result 1st round, 1997

The South Africa national football team, or Bafana Bafana (The Boys)[1], is the national team of South Africa and is controlled by the South African Football Association. It returned to the world stage in 1992, after years of being banned from FIFA.

Contents

[edit] History

From the earliest days of the sport in South Africa until the end of apartheid, football in South Africa was affected by the country's system of racial segregation. The all-white Football Association of South Africa (FASA), was formed in 1892, while the South African Indian Football Association (SAIFA), the South African Bantu Football Association (SABFA) and the South African Coloured Football Association (SACFA) were founded in 1903, 1933 and 1936 respectively.

South Africa were invited to join Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan at the first conference of the Confederation of African Football in Khartoum in 1957 and the South African representative, Fred Fell, sat at the first meeting as a founding member. It soon became clear however that South Africa's constitution prohibited racially mixed teams from competitive sport and so they could only send either an all-black side or an all-white side to the planned 1957 African Cup of Nations. This was unacceptable to the other members of the Confederation and South Africa were disqualified from the competition, however some sources say that they withdrew voluntarily.

At the second CAF conference in 1958 South Africa were formally expelled from CAF. The all-white (FASA) were admitted to FIFA in the same year, but in August of 1960 it was given an ultimatum of one year to fall in line with the non-discriminatory regulations of FIFA. On September 26, 1961 at the annual FIFA conference, the South African association was formally suspended from FIFA. Sir Stanley Rous, president of The Football Association of England and a champion of South Africa's FIFA membership, was elected FIFA President a few days later. Rous was adamant that sport, and FIFA in particular, should not embroil itself in political matters and against fierce opposition he continued to resist attempts to expel South Africa from FIFA. The suspension was lifted in January of 1963 after a visit to South Africa by Rous in order to investigate the state of football in the country.

Rous declared that if the suspension were not lifted, football there would be discontinued, possibly to the point of no recovery. The next annual conference of FIFA in October of 1964 took place in Tokyo and was attended by a larger contingent of representatives from African and Asian associations and here the suspension of South Africa's membership was re-imposed. In 1976, after the Soweto uprising, they were formally expelled from FIFA.

In 1991, with the apartheid system beginning to be demolished, a new multiracial South African Football Association was formed. On July 7, 1992, the South African national team played their first game in two decades, beating Cameroon 1-0. South Africa made the 1998 and 2002 World Cups, but failed to get out of the first round each time. They hosted (and won) the 1996 African Nations Cup and will host the 2010 World Cup, the first African nation to do so.

South Africa failed to impress local supporters by not scoring a single goal in the African Nations Cup of 2006. In light of these poor performances it was decided that the hiring of a more experienced manager was essential. Rumours began to fly, prior to the 2006, that England coach Sven-Göran Eriksson was to be the man for the job, with SAFA apparently offering him R30 million to take Bafana-Bafana to glory in 2010. However this has since been denied. More recently the former Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira has accepted the job. After accepting the job, he was awarded R100 million for a four year contract. His term as manager started January 1 2007 targeting 2010 FIFA World Cup but he resigned in April 2008 due to family reasons.

Joel Santana signed to coach until 2010. [1] He leaves Flamengo in an extraordinary campaign.


[edit] Honours

1996
2002, 2007

[edit] International record

[edit] World Cup

  • 1930 to 1962 - Did not enter
  • 1966 to 1990 - Banned from FIFA because of Apartheid
  • 1994 - Did not qualify
  • 1998 - Round 1
  • 2002 - Round 1
  • 2006 - Did not qualify
  • 2010 - Qualified automatically as host nation

[edit] African Nations Cup

[edit] Coaches

[edit] Famous players

[edit] Most capped

Player South Africa career Caps (Goals)
Aaron Mokoena 1999-present 75 (1)
Shaun Bartlett 1995-2005 74 (28)
John Moshoeu 1993-2004 73 (8)
Lucas Radebe 1992-2003 70 (2)
Benni McCarthy 1997-present 70 (30)
Andre Arendse 1995-2004 67 (0)
Helman Mkhalele 1994-2001 66 (7)
Siyabonga Nomvethe 1999-present 64 (14)
Mark Fish 1993-2004 62 (2)
Delron Buckley 1998-present 61 (9)

[edit] Top goalscorers

Player South Africa career Goals (Caps)
Benni McCarthy 1997-present 30 (70)
Shaun Bartlett 1995-2005 28 (74)
Phil Masinga 1992-2001 19 (58)
Siyabonga Nomvethe 1999-present 14 (65)
Donald Wilson 1947 11 (9)
Johnny Claessens 1947-1953 9 (10)
Peter Hughes 1955 9 (5)
Mark Williams 1992-1997 9 (23)
Doctor Khumalo 1992-2001 9 (50)
Delron Buckley 1998-present 9 (61)

[edit] Current Squad

Squad for the friendly match against Australia on 19 August 2008.

No. Pos. Player DoB (Age) Caps Goals Club
1 GK Rowen Fernandez 28 February 1978 (1978-02-28) (age 30) 16 0 Flag of Germany Arminia Bielefeld
16 GK Itumeleng Khune 20 June 1987 (1987-06-20) (age 21) 5 0 Flag of South Africa Kaizer Chiefs
2 DF Bongani Khumalo 6 January 1987 (1987-01-06) (age 21) 3 0 Flag of South Africa Supersport United
3 DF Tsepo Masilela 5 May 1985 (1985-05-05) (age 23) Flag of Israel Maccabi Haifa
4 DF Aaron Mokoena 25 November 1980 (1980-11-25) (age 27) 73 1 Flag of England Blackburn Rovers
5 DF Bevan Fransman 31 October 1983 (1983-10-31) (age 24) Flag of South Africa Moroka Swallows
11 DF Bryce Moon 6 April 1986 (1986-04-06) (age 22) 16 1 Flag of Greece Panathinaikos
15 DF Innocent Mdledle 12 November 1985 (1985-11-12) (age 22) 4 0 Flag of South Africa Orlando Pirates
6 MF McBeth Sibaya 25 November 1977 (1977-11-25) (age 30) 37 0 Flag of Russia Rubin Kazan
7 MF Lance Davids 11 April 1985 (1985-04-11) (age 23) 8 0 Flag of Sweden Djurgården
9 MF Surprise Moriri 20 March 1980 (1980-03-20) (age 28) 21 5 Flag of South Africa Mamelodi Sundowns
10 MF Steven Pienaar 17 March 1982 (1982-03-17) (age 26) 34 2 Flag of England Everton
12 MF Teko Modise 22 December 1982 (1982-12-22) (age 25) 30 7 Flag of South Africa Orlando Pirates
13 MF Kagiso Dikgacoi 24 November 1984 (1984-11-24) (age 23) 11 2 Flag of South Africa Golden Arrows
18 MF Delron Buckley 7 December 1977 (1977-12-07) (age 30) 69 10 Flag of Germany Borussia Dortmund
MF Bafo Biyela Flag of South Africa AmaZulu
8 FW Katlego Mashego 18 May 1982 (1982-05-18) (age 26) Flag of South Africa Supersport United
14 FW Lerato Chabangu 15 August 1985 (1985-08-15) (age 23) Flag of South Africa Mamelodi Sundowns
17 FW Thembinkosi Fanteni 2 February 1984 (1984-02-02) (age 24) 23 1 Flag of Israel Maccabi Haifa
FW Sthembiso Ngcobo Flag of South Africa Free State Stars


[edit] Recent call-ups

The following players have also been called up to the South Africa squad.

Goalkeepers
Name Date of birth Club Caps (goals) Most Recent Call up
Moeneeb Josephs May 19, 1980 Flag of South Africa Orlando Pirates 10 (0) v. Nigeria, 1 June 2008
Senzo Meyiwa September 24, 1987 Flag of South Africa Orlando Pirates  ? (?) v. Zimbabwe, 11 March 2008
Defenders
Name Date of birth Club Caps (goals) Most Recent Call up
Siboniso Gaxa April 6, 1984 Flag of South Africa Mamelodi Sundowns  ? (?) v. Nigeria, 1 June 2008
Robyn Johannes August 23, 1986 Flag of South Africa Mamelodi Sundowns  ? (?) v. Sierra Leone, 14 June 2008
Mokete Tsotetsi November 14, 1982 Flag of South Africa Kaizer Chiefs  ? (?) v. Sierra Leone, 14 June 2008
Nasief Morris April 16, 1981 Flag of Spain Recreativo de Huelva  ? (?) v. Paraguay, 26 March 2008
Brett Evans March 8, 1982 Flag of South Africa Ajax Cape Town  ? (?) v. Zimbabwe, 11 March 2008
Siyabonga Sangweni September 29, 1981 Flag of South Africa Golden Arrows  ? (?) v. Zimbabwe, 11 March 2008
Tumelo Nhlapo January 20, 1988 Flag of South Africa Bloemfontein Celtic  ? (?) v. Senegal, 31 January 2008
Benson Mhlongo November 9, 1980 Flag of South Africa Mamelodi Sundowns 24 (1) v. Tunisia, 27 January 2008
Midfielders
Name Date of birth Club Caps (goals) Most Recent Call up
Siyabonga Nkosi August 22, 1981 Flag of Germany Arminia Bielefeld 15 (2) v. Australia, 19 August 2008[2]
Siphiwe Tshabalala September 25, 1984 Flag of South Africa Kaizer Chiefs 16 (1) v. Nigeria, 1 June 2008
Thulasizwe Mbuyane August 13, 1983 Flag of South Africa Orlando Pirates  ? (?) v. Paraguay, 26 March 2008
Bernard Parker March 16, 1986 Flag of South Africa Thanda Royal Zulu  ? (?) v. Paraguay, 26 March 2008
Dumisani Ngwenya October 28, 1984 Flag of South Africa AmaZulu 1 (0) v. Zimbabwe, 11 March 2008
Bennett Chenene February 2, 1984 Flag of South Africa Orlando Pirates  ? (?) v. Zimbabwe, 11 March 2008
Papi Zothwane August 17, 1981 Flag of South Africa Golden Arrows  ? (?) v. Zimbabwe, 11 March 2008
Elrio van Heerden July 11, 1983 Flag of Belgium Club Brugge  ? (?) v. Senegal, 31 January 2008
Matty Pattison October 27, 1986 Flag of England Norwich City FC 0 (0) v. Australia, 19 August 2008[3]
Dean Furman June 22, 1988 Flag of Scotland Rangers FC 0 (0) v. Australia, 19 August 2008[4]
Strikers
Name Date of birth Club Caps (goals) Most Recent Call up
Excellent Walaza April 8, 1987 Flag of South Africa Orlando Pirates 2 (0) v. Nigeria, 1 June 2008
Benedict McCarthy November 12, 1977 Flag of England Blackburn Rovers 77 (30) v. Paraguay, 26 March 2008
Kermit Erasmus July 8, 1990 Flag of the Netherlands Feyenoord Rotterdam  ? (?) v. Zimbabwe, 11 March 2008
Sibusiso Zuma June 23, 1975 Flag of Germany Arminia Bielefeld  ? (?) v. Senegal, 31 January 2008
Katlego Mphela November 29, 1984 Flag of South Africa Supersport United  ? (?) v. Tunisia, 27 January 2008

[edit] References

  1. ^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named autogenerated1
  2. ^ McCarthy returns for South Africa
  3. ^ McCarthy returns for South Africa
  4. ^ McCarthy returns for South Africa

[edit] External links

Personal tools