ADMIN HOWLER: Bafana World Cup visa bungle latest in long list of Safa snafus

The departure of Bafana Bafana for their Fifa World Cup base camp in Mexico was supposed to be about the country’s first appearance at the tournament in 16 years, something this crop of players fought hard to achieve. Instead, the South African Football Association has snatched the spotlight with yet another episode of administrative ineptitude.

“Safa apologises to the nation for these unexpected travel delays and would like to thank the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) for their assistance, as well as the US Consulate in Johannesburg, who went beyond their call of duty over the weekend to ensure that the visas were issued for all our players to travel.”

The Mexicans are co-hosts of the latest instalment of the tournament, which will feature 48 teams for the first time. They stage this World Cup alongside the neighbouring US, and Canada. South Africa’s base for the group stages of the 2026 edition of the global soccer spectacle will be in Pachuca, Mexico.

However, the team could not travel as planned because Safa botched the visa application process. This left the team grounded. They managed to depart on Monday, 1 June. Nevertheless, not everyone could depart then, including assistant coach Helman Mkhalele and head of security Mdu Mbatha.

The duo has since been granted their visas, according to public broadcaster SABC Sport, and they will follow the rest of the team as soon as possible. Despite the situation now being resolved (thanks to assistance from Dirco and the US Embassy), the egg on Safa’s face is big and messy.

Even South Africa’s opponents in Group A will look at the team as a disorganised bunch, which will fuel their belief that they can beat Hugo Broos’ men.

Bafana Bafana are grouped alongside Mexico, South Korea and Czechia. They will play the opening game of the 2026 tournament against the Mexicans in a repetition of the first match of the 2010 edition, the only instalment of the World Cup to be hosted on African soil.

Despite the latest Safa administrative mishap, organisation president Danny Jordaan played down its impact on the players over the duration of the tournament. The South Africans are hoping to reach the knockout stages of the showpiece for the first time.

“These are experienced players. You saw Mamelodi Sundowns going into the lions’ den in Morocco. They had the grit and the determination to see it through,” said Jordaan “So, it’s not the first time that they have these problems. But we believe that they will use that as extra motivation to do well.”

This World Cup debacle is not the first