Itumeleng Khune blasts SAFA over Bafana administrative blunder

Former Bafana Bafana captain Itumeleng Khune has strongly criticised the South African Football Association (SAFA) for an administrative error that delayed the national team’s flight to North America for the FIFA World Cup.

South Africa’s preparations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup encountered a significant setback last week due to an embarrassing administrative mix-up.

The team’s planned departure to their training base in Pachuca, Mexico, was postponed after more than 20 members of the squad and technical staff were unable to travel because of delays with their US visas.

This forced Hugo Broos’s squad to reschedule their chartered flight by 24 hours, costing them valuable time to acclimatise to the high altitude before their opening Group A match against co-hosts Mexico on June 11.

Bafana legend on impact of travel chaos

While the incident drew sharp criticism from the Ministry of Sports, SAFA president Danny Jordaan attempted to downplay its significance. Jordaan claimed the players would not be affected, drawing parallels to previous travel issues experienced in Nigeria.

However, Khune, who holds 91 caps for Bafana Bafana—the most for any goalkeeper in the nation’s history—disagreed, stating that the fiasco undoubtedly impacted the players.

“Incidents affect players mentally,” Khune told journalists at a Carling Black Label event as quoted by KickOff. “You set your mind to doing something, and you programme your mind to do something at that time. If you hear that the visas are not ready, it definitely plays in your mind.”

Khune hits out at SAFA’s poor planning

The veteran goalkeeper stressed that such issues should have been handled much earlier.

“I think SAFA should have solved these things long ago,” he added. “For them to leave this thing to the last minute is not fair to the players, and it does affect players badly.”

Khune also urged the team’s leadership to keep the squad focused. “I just wish the captain and the rest of the senior players on the team would help the players to make sure they focus fully on the tournament and not focus on the bonuses and things like that.”