The South African Football Association (SAFA) has confirmed that they have received communication from FIFA that it is investigating the Teboho Mokoena saga. The Bafana Bafana midfielder was fielded in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Lesotho despite having collected two yellow cards.
The 28-year-old Mokoena was ineligible to play in March in a match Bafana won 2-0 in Polokwane. If found guilty South Africa could be docked three points.
The confirmation by FIFA comes almost six months after the Bafana Bafana match against Lesotho at the New Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane.
Bafana are currently top of Group C with 17 points, closely followed by Benin with 14 points with only two qualifying matches remaining. Nigeria and Rwanda are third and fourth respectively with 11 points each.
If FIFA subtracts the three points from Bafana Bafana, they will be equal on points with Benin. If found guilty FIFA will also award a three-goal win for Lesotho against South Africa.
But Bafana will still be on top of the group by virtue of a better goal difference.
SAFA Chief Executive Lydia Monyepao says their objective is to win the two remaining matches regardless of the outcome of the FIFA investigation.
“We have received confirmation that the Teboho Mokoena (matter) will now be investigated, and this only came this week. The aim of the coach is to win the two remaining games against Zimbabwe and Lesotho to make sure Bafana qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup even if they get docked the three points concerned,” says Monyepao.
The SAFA Chief Executive says they will not allow their investigation to derail Bafana Bafana’s aim of qualifying for the FIFA World Cup for the first time since 2010.
“There’s been a lot of noise from teams in their group, particularly from Nigeria and Rwanda, but we will not allow that to distract us because we are on a mission here to qualify for the World Cup,” Monyepao explains.
Bafana will face Zimbabwe on the 6th of October and wrap up their campaign against Rwanda a week later.
SAFA revealed that the final qualifying match will be played at the Mbombela Stadium, in Mpumalanga.
Meanwhile, national under-20 football coach Raymond Mdaka has officially announced his 21 men final squad for the under-20 FIFA World Cup in Chile.
Mdaka says it was very challenging for him to pick his final team.
“It’s always a big challenge to pick only 21 players from such a big pool players. But luckily, I know all the players at our disposal because I worked with most of them when we won thee Africa Cup of Nations. Our main aim is to do well and go as far as possible in the tournament in Chile,” says Mdaka.
The under-20 World Cup starts on the 27th of September and runs until the 19th of October.
Amajita are in Group E alongside France, United States, and New Caledonia. The opening match against France will be played on the 29th of September.
