Bafana Bafana have suffered the consequences of dropping points at home as reflected in the latest FIFA rankings.
Hugo Broos' men kicked off their 2025 AFCON qualifiers by dropping points at home against Uganda in a 2-2 Group K match.
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From there, Bafana laboured on to a 3-2 win over South Sudan, which came courtesy of a late winner from Thalente Mbatha.
With those two results, they are now second in their group behind leaders Uganda, though they are both on four points.
However, those results have negatively affected their FIFA rankings, dropping from 57 to 59 in the latest rankings released on Thursday.
While still in position 57, Bafana failed to overcome Uganda – then on 95 – and then found themselves having to sweat to get past South Sudan, who were 169th before the latest rankings.
The draw against Uganda was a setback, while the win over South Sudan came with little points considering their ranking.
This has then had the effect of Bafana being displaced by DR Congo in position 10 in the CAF standings led by Morocco.
South Africa had returned to the top 10 on the continent after they reached the semi-finals of the AFCON against all odds in Cote d'Ivoire.
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Qualification from this round of AFCON qualifiers matches will take Bafana to the 2025 AFCON finals to run from December 21, 2025, to January 18, 2026, in Morocco with 24 countries involved.
The 72-year-old will leave the Bafana job after the expiry of his contract in June 2026,, by which time he will hope to have taken the senior national team to the World Cup.
The next FIFA dates will be in October.