Hugo Broos, the coach of Bafana Bafana of South Africa, has said that he has a team capable of emerging tops ahead of Nigeria in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying Group C.
In Thursday’s draw in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, Bafana Bafana was placed in Group C against Super Eagles of Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Benin, Rwanda and Lesotho.
The 1996 Africa Cup of Nations winners have not featured at the World Cup since hosting the 2010 edition.
Reacting to the draw Broos, who has been in charge of Bafana Bafana since 2021, said his players are in a much better place than they were two years ago and he strongly believes that they can qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
“The away games will be very important in a group like ours, but now a little bit more because we have five difficult away games for different reasons,” he told www.safa.net.
“I think it is possible for South Africa to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup first in the group. If you see the progress we have made in the last two years, you cannot compare those qualifiers (for the 2026 World Cup) with the qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. We are better now, we have a better team now. So okay, I am confident.”
The race for 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification will begin in November 2023 and conclude November 2025.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be jointly hosted in Canada, Mexico and the United States of America.
