daniel chigunweDespite barely having scratched the surface of 2025 in a sporting sense, South African football fans are already dreaming of what the new year could bring.
While new fixtures will likely be added to their calendar for the year to come, we already have a good idea of just how much football they will play in 2025, with their current fixture list as follows:
- March 19 – South Africa vs Lesotho (World Cup Qualifying)
- March 22 – Benin vs South Africa (World Cup Qualifying)
- September 3 – Lesotho vs South Africa (World Cup Qualifying)
- September 6 – South Africa vs Nigeria (World Cup Qualifying)
- October 8 – Zimbabwe vs South Africa (World Cup Qualifying)
- October 11 – South Africa vs Rwanda (World Cup Qualifying)
- December 2025 – January 2026 (Africa Cup of Nations)
There is still a lot to be decided for South Africa in 2025, but one thing is guaranteed – Bafana Bafana have huge matches coming up over the next few months that will decide whether they take part in the FIFA World Cup in 2026.
South Africa currently sit in second in Group C with seven points from their opening four matches. Two wins have come from these four matches as they beat Benin (2-1) in game one and Zimbabwe (3-1) in game four.
They have slipped to a defeat on the road against Rwanda (2-0), while they took a point away from home against Nigeria (1-1).
South Africa have taken six points from a possible six at home, while they have secured one point from two away games.
Clearly, South Africa have an issue with travelling in World Cup qualifying, meaning they will lean heavily on their home form if they are to fulfil the betting predictions and make the finals.
Their next match against Lesotho at home and Benin on the road in March will be vital in their battle to finish at the summit. Positively, Rwanda top the group, but only via a slightly superior goal difference.
Wins over Lesotho and Benin, who sit in fourth and third in the group respectively, could potentially put some real space between South Africa and the chasing pack, with Benin sitting on the same points as South Africa.
From there, a brace of matches in September is followed by the end of the round in October.
This stage of World Cup qualifying only sees the top side in each group move directly into the group-stage at the World Cup in the USA.
The four best second-placed sides from the nine groups will take one of the berths in the semi-finals, with the two semi-finals and final to be played in November 2025.
To add insult to the injury of not qualifying for the World Cup automatically, winning the semi-final and final would not end in South Africa taking a place at the World Cup.
The winner of the final will move into an inter-confederation play-off with one side from the CONMEBOL and OFC along with two sides from CONCACAF.
The bottom four sides according to the FIFA rankings will go into single-elimination matches. The winner of these matches will play against the top two ranked sides, with the winners of these final matches taking the two remaining places at the 2026 World Cup.
This means that South Africa will know whether they will be appearing at the 2026 World Cup by the time the African Cup of Nations begins.
The groups and fixtures for AFCON are yet to be confirmed, with the top two sides from the six groups moving straight into the knockout stages.
Meanwhile, the top four third-placed sides join the other 12 teams in the last 16, which is where the fun really begins.
By February in 2026, South Africa could have won the latest AFCON, while they may also have a place at the 2026 World Cup.
South Africa have not won AFCON since 1996, while they have failed to qualify for the World Cup since they automatically qualified for their own World Cup back in 2010.
With a solid start to World Cup qualifying behind them, South Africa need to build on their run of qualifying games.
A strong run across 2025 may see them arrive for AFCON in fine form, with the potential to bounce from one strong run to another potentially seeing them finally end their long wait for silverware in the Africa Cup of Nations.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter