Bafana Bafana: Part 2 History

South Africa's national team scoring since 1992

Since their first official football match against Cameroon on 7 July 1992, Bafana Bafana has been making South Africa proud.

The South African national soccer team’s first match played in Durban saw a 1-0 win for Bafana and proved to be a strong debut against one of Africa's leading teams. Doctor Khumalo scored the game's only goal and went on to be a soccer sensation in South Africa.

South Africa’s oppressive history saw many South Africans discriminated against based on skin colour and resulted in sport being largely unrepresentative of the South Africa population. It is for this reason that South Africa's national football team has a relatively short international history. The first team to represent all South Africans only played its first match two years before the country's first democratic elections in 1994. 

Since their debut win, the South African national soccer squad continued to impress by winning the 1996 African crown and finishing as runners-up in the 1998 edition in Burkina Faso. The boys in green and gold have also qualified for two FIFA World Cups, France 1998 and Korea 2002. The boys wowed the world as hosts to the 2010 FIFA World Cup with a 3-0 win over Mexico and a 2-1 win over France during the group stages.

The team is currently coached by Pitso Mosimane a former South African football player and assistant coach to Carlos Alberto Parreira and Joel Santana. He won his first game in charge in a 1-0 win over World Cup Quarter Finalists Ghana.

Current skipper Aaron Mokoena is the most capped player in the country's history. He also became the youngest player to feature for Bafana Bafana when he earned his first cap at 18 years, two months and 26 days and retained his captaincy during the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Striker Benni McCarthy is the only South African to score more than three goals in an international match and holds the record as all-time top marksman with 31 international goals.

The 1996 side, captained by Neil Tove, is still regarded as the best in the country's history. The winning line-up included the likes of Lucas Radebe, Doctor Khumalo, Mark Fish, John Moshoeu, Phil Masinga, Mark Williams, Andre Arendse and many other heroes of yesteryear. 

Some of Bafana Bafana’s highlights include:

• 1996 CAF African Cup of Nations champions.
• Awarded the FIFA/Coca-Cola Best Mover of the Year Award in 1996.
• Became the first Southern African nation in 1997 to qualify for the FIFA World Cup Finals.
• Runners-up, 1998 African Cup of Nations.
• World Cup debut in France in 1998.
• Winners Afro-Asian Trophy in 1999.
• Third place in the 1999 African Cup of Nations.
• Compete in 2002 Fifa World Cup Finals, Korea/Japan.
• Reunification Cup winners in 2002.
• Advance to quarter-finals of the 2005 Concacaf Gold Cup.
• Competed in the semi-finals of the 2009 Fifa Confederations Cup.
• Competed in the group stages of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Want to know more about the boys? Read our articles on Bafana Bafana Part 1: South Africa's National Team and Bafana Bafana Part 3: Accomplishments so Far.