South Africa national soccer B team

South Africa Development team
Nickname(s)Bafana Bafana
AssociationSouth African
Football Association
ConfederationCAF (Africa)
Sub-confederationCOSAFA
Head coachMolefi Ntseki
CaptainNeo Maema
FIFA codeRSA
First colours
Second colours
FIFA ranking
CurrentN/A
African Nations Championship
Appearances1 (first in 2011)
Best resultQuarter-finals (2011)

The South Africa national development football team, is a development football (soccer) team, which represents South Africa and is controlled by the South African Football Association, the governing body for football in South Africa. The team's main objective is to give international exposure to home-based players, by allowing them to play 'B-level' internationals. Since the advent of the African Nations Championship, the team now attempts to qualify for and play at the event.

Since 2008 SAFA have sent the team to the COSAFA Cup, instead of the senior team. The team has played at one African Nations Championship and two COSAFA Cups.

Player eligibility

African Championship of Nations regulations require teams to be made up only of players from the association's national leagues. As the team is not an official national team, and does not play in FIFA sanctioned tournaments, clubs are not required to release players for matches. Usually the only Premier Soccer League players released are non-squad members. Many players are selected from the National First Division (second tier) and Vodacom League (third tier).

Match status

Matches played by the team are not classified as 'A-level' internationals. Thus caps awarded for matches do not count as senior national team caps. Matches played by the team also do not count towards FIFA ranking points, even when the team plays other countries' senior national teams.

Recent and future matches

2025

2 March CHAN qualification South Africa  1–1  Egypt Bloemfontein, South Africa
17:00
  • Webber 80'
Report Stadium: Free State Stadium
8 March CHAN qualification Egypt  1–3  South Africa Ismailia, Egypt
17:00
  • Mohamed Shika 32'
Report
Stadium: Suez Canal Stadium
3 May CHAN qualification Malawi  1–0  South Africa Lilongwe, Malawi
15:00 UTC+2
  • Zeliat Nkhoma 88'
Report Stadium: Bingu National Stadium

Tournament records

African Nations Championship record

African Nations Championship

African Nations Championship
Appearances: 2
Year Round Position Pld W D* L GF GA
Ivory Coast 2009 Did not qualify
Sudan 2011 Quarter-finals 6th 4 3 0 1 6 4
South Africa 2014 Group stage 9th 3 1 1 1 5 5
Rwanda 2016 Did not qualify
Morocco 2018
Cameroon 2020
Algeria 2022
KenyaTanzaniaUganda 2024 qualified
Total Quarter-finals 2/7 7 4 1 2 11 9

COSAFA Cup record

Hosts/Year Result GP W D* L GS GA
South Africa 2008 Champions 3 3 0 0 4 1
Zimbabwe 2009 Fourth Place 3 1 1 1 3 2
Total 2/2 6 4 1 1 7 3

Honours

20081
  • ^1 Prior to 2008, SAFA sent the senior national team to the COSAFA Cup.

References