Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has weighed in on the Teboho Mokoena ineligibility saga, and the Belgian has suggested there is no need for Bafana Bafana to be punished.
A dark cloud still hangs over South Africa’s senior national team since midfielder Mokoena took to the field in the 2-0 win over Lesotho in March despite the fact that he had accumulated two yellow cards and was, therefore, suspended for the match.
Bafana Bafana are top of Group C of the FIFA 2026 World Cup Qualifiers with 13 points from six games, followed by Rwanda with eight (8), Benin (8), and Nigeria (7).
Should Bafana Bafana be docked three points for fielding a defaulter, it will offer the other teams an opportunity to catch up, but Broos is not losing sleep over the matter.
“You don’t have to think about it. If the decision will be we lose three points—ok, we’ll lose three points,” said Broos on Thursday, as he announced the final squad to play Lesotho (5 September) and Nigeria (9 September). Both matches will be in Bloemfontein, Free State.
The bone of contention is that Lesotho didn’t lodge a protest, which means, technically, Bafana Bafana has no case to answer to.
In terms of FIFA’s Disciplinary Code, “protests must reach the Disciplinary Committee in writing, indicating the relevant grounds, within 24 hours of the end of the match in question.”
Broos added, “On the other side, when the rules are followed, there’s no complaint… there’s no complaint.
“I have to be honest, we didn’t know it, that Mokoena couldn’t play that game, but Lesotho didn’t know either.
“What is Nigeria doing now? There was no complaint. But why should we start doubting and be worried and afraid? We got a good result in Nigeria; we won in Benin. If it’s like that (we lose the three points), we have to fight on the pitch.”
