Bafana at AFCON: The highs and lows as Class of 2025 seeks to end 29-year drought

Bafana Bafana will make their 11^th appearance at the Africa Cup of Nations when they line up in Morocco for the 2025 edition on December 22.

South Africa will open their AFCON 2025 campaign with a match against Angola and there is belief that the Class of 2025 can emulate the all-conquering team of 1996 which won the country’s first and only title.

Bafana Bafana, then under coach Clive Barker, and led by legendary figures like Lucas Radebe, Phil Masinga, Eric Tinkler, John “Shoes” Moshoeu, Doctor Khumalo and Mark Williams went all the way to claim Africa’s biggest football prize on home soil.

South Africa delivered their fans in dreamland when they beat Tunisia 2-0 at the FNB Stadium to win AFCON 1996 with the nation’s founding father Nelson Mandela leading the trophy celebrations.

When did Bafana’s decline begin?

However, since that time, South Africans have never witnessed continental glory and heading to Morocco this year, it is nearly 30 years, 29 to be precise, and counting.

After 1996, South Africa returned two years later in Burkina Faso and still impressed, but missed out as they finished second, after losing the final 2-0 to Egypt.

They would make it a third straight appearance at the 2000 edition co-hosted by Ghana and Nigeria where they won bronze, having beaten Tunisia on post-match penalties after finishing 2-2 in regulation time.

Any hopes of an improvement from this time went up in smoke as pain followed for South Africa instead. At the 2002 edition in Mali, Bafana Bafana were eliminated in the quarter-final, having lost 2-0 to the hosts.

South Africa hit all-time low

A 10-year period of decline then followed when South Africa qualified for AFCON 2004, 2006 and 2008 but exited at the group stage, and hit an all-time low when they failed to qualify for the 2010 and 2012 editions.

South Africa played AFCON 2013 as hosts, managing a quarter-final before they were eliminated by Mali on post-match penalties, following a 1-1 draw in regulation and extra-time.

They would qualify for the 2015 edition but exited at the group stage and then missed the 2017 tournament in Gabon which was won by a Cameroon team coached by current Bafana Bafana boss Hugo Broos.

South Africa returned for the 2019 edition in Egypt, exiting at the quarter-final, after losing 2-1 to Nigeria only to hit another low by failing to qualify for AFCON 2021 in Cameroon.

Arrival of Broos and the renaissance

It is after this failure that SAFA brought in Broos, the veteran Belgian joining in May 2021 and signing a four-year deal.

Since Broos’ arrival, there has been an awakening of the ‘beast’ and their run to third place AFCON 2023 with a squad full of PSL stars took everyone by surprise.

South Africa held Tunisia, beat Morocco on their way to the semi-final and only lost to Nigeria on post-match penalties before making it to the third-place playoffs, where they won via the shootouts against DR Congo.

Since that game, Bafana Bafana have not tasted defeat, a record that stretches to 26 games which involve AFCON 2025 and 2026 World Cup qualifiers as well as friendly matches.

What makes Class of 2025 special?

They qualified for AFCON 2025 effortlessly and put the icing on the cake by sealing a place at the 2026 World Cup. Heading to Morocco, they are not the also-runs of the past but one of the potential champions.

Coach Hugo Broos has built a strong team that embraces the collective rather than individualism with no superstar to hog the spotlight but just a cohesive unit that works so hard and is difficult to break down.

The Class of 2025 has a good mix of young and experienced players with old heads like Ronwen Williams, Siyabonga Ngezana, Teboho Mokoena, Khuliso Mudau and Evicence Makgopa helping youngsters such as Relebohile Mofokeng, Mbekezli Mbokazi, Mohau Nkota, Shandre Campbell and Tylon Smith.

Whether 2025 is the year they win a second African title is a question that will be answered in Morocco.