2026 Qualifiers of the World Cup: the FIFA ax falls in South Africa, deduces three points from Bafana Bafana

The Disciplinary Committee FIFA sanctioned the South African Football Association (SAFA) for having put a non -admissible player in place, Teboho Mokoena, during the preliminary of the 2026 FIFA World Cup between South Africa and Lesotho on March 21, 2025.

According to Fifa, Safa’s action violated article 19 of the FIFA disciplinary code and article 14 of the FIFA World Cup 2026 Preliminary competition regulations. As a result, the game was renounced in favor of Lesotho, with a 3-0 score assigned.

In addition, Safa was fined 10,000 CHFs, while Mokoena himself received an official warning.

The decision was formally communicated to the parties today. Based on the rules of FIFA, they have 10 days to request a detailed and motivated decision, which would subsequently be published on Legal.fifa.com. The sentence remains subject to appeal before the FIFA appeal committee.

Hugo Broos’s men currently sit at the top of their qualifying group of the C Cup C, having obtained 17 points from eight games.

Bafana Bafana had a three-point gap before Benin in second place, but now he was overcome by the squirrels after their 2-0 victory against Lesotho has been canceled and led to 0-3 due to the administrative error.

And so, the Benin is now at the top of the group with 14 points with more four port differences, while South Africa is second with the same number of points with more three.
The two goals from South Africa marked against Lesotho were canceled while a penalty of less three points and less three goals were imposed.