This is a record of South Africa's results at the FIFA World Cup. The FIFA World Cup, sometimes called the Football World Cup, usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.
The tournament consists of two parts, the qualification phase, and the final phase (officially called the World Cup Finals). The qualification phase, which currently take place over the three years preceding the Finals, is used to determine which teams qualify for the Finals. The current format of the Finals involves 32 teams competing for the title, at venues within the host nation (or nations) over a period of about a month. The World Cup Finals is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, with an estimated 715.1 million people watching the 2006 tournament final.[1]
South Africa have appeared in the FIFA World Cup on three occasions in 1998, 2002, and 2010.
Although South Africa has made three appearances in the World Cup, they have not made it past the first round. The team's first attempt to qualify was for the 1994 FIFA World Cup. The team finished second in their group, behind Nigeria, who went on to play at the World Cup. Their first appearance was in France 1998, six years after they had been readmitted to the global football family. Despite a 3–0 drubbing to France in their opening game, they went on to draw against Denmark and Saudi Arabia, the team finished third and thus exited the tournament. Korea/Japan 2002 was expected to be an opportunity for Bafana Bafana to step up to the next level but they were eliminated at the group stage despite drawing to Paraguay and beating Slovenia 1–0 for their first-ever World Cup win. The team finished third in their group, losing out to Paraguay on goals scored. The team failed to qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup after finishing third in their qualifying group. Ghana won the group and progressed to the tournament, while Congo DR finished ahead of South Africa on head-to-head results. During the 2010 World Cup on their home soil, they beat France 2–1 and drew 1–1 to Mexico, but lost 0–3 to Uruguay. They lost out on progression to the round of 16, on goal difference, becoming the first World Cup host nation to fail to advance past the group stage.[2] [3] [4] [5]
| FIFA World Cup record | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | Position | |||||||
 1930 | Did not enter | ||||||||
 1934 | |||||||||
 1938 | |||||||||
 1950 | |||||||||
 1954 | |||||||||
 1958 | |||||||||
 1962 | |||||||||
| 1966 | Not admitted[6] | ||||||||
 1970 | Banned | ||||||||
 1974 | |||||||||
 1978 | |||||||||
 1982 | |||||||||
| 1986 | |||||||||
| 1990 | |||||||||
 1994 | Did not qualify | ||||||||
| 1998 | Group stage | 24th | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 | |
 2002 | 17th | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | ||
| 2006 | Did not qualify | ||||||||
 2010 | Group stage | 20th | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | |
| 2014 | Did not qualify | ||||||||
| 2018 | |||||||||
 2022 | |||||||||
 2026 | To be determined | ||||||||
  2030 | |||||||||
 2034 | |||||||||
| Total | Group stage | 3/25 | 9 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 11 | 16 | |
| South Africa's World Cup record | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=20% | First Match | 3–0 (12 June 1998; Marseille, France) | |||
| width=20% | Biggest Win | 1–0 (8 June 2002; Daegu, South Korea) 1–2 (22 June 2010; Bloemfontein, South Africa) | |||
| width=10% | Biggest Defeat | 3–0 (12 June 1998; Marseille, France) 0–3 (16 June 2010; Pretoria, South Africa) | |||
| width=10% | Best Result | 17th place at the 2002 World Cup | |||
| width=10% | Worst Result | 24th place at the 1998 World Cup | |||
See main article: 1998 FIFA World Cup Group C. Head coach: Philippe Troussier
| GK | 16 | Fabien Barthez | ||
| RB | 15 | Lilian Thuram | ||
| CB | 8 | Marcel Desailly | ||
| CB | 5 | Laurent Blanc | ||
| LB | 3 | Bixente Lizarazu | ||
| CM | 7 | Didier Deschamps (c) | ||
| CM | 17 | |||
| RW | 6 | |||
| AM | 10 | |||
| LW | 12 | Thierry Henry | ||
| CF | 9 | |||
| Substitutions: | ||||
| FW | 21 | |||
| MF | 14 | |||
| FW | 20 | |||
| Manager: | ||||
| Aimé Jacquet | ||||
| GK | 1 | Hans Vonk | ||
| DF | 3 | David Nyathi | ||
| DF | 4 | |||
| DF | 5 | Mark Fish | ||
| DF | 19 | Lucas Radebe (c) | ||
| DF | 21 | Pierre Issa | ||
| MF | 7 | Quinton Fortune | ||
| MF | 10 | John Moshoeu | ||
| FW | 6 | Phil Masinga | ||
| FW | 12 | |||
| FW | 17 | |||
| Substitutions: | ||||
| MF | 11 | |||
| FW | 9 | |||
| Manager: | ||||
| Philippe Troussier | ||||
| Assistant referees
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Benni McCarthy scored South Africa's first ever goal in the World Cup when he received the ball on the edge of the penalty box before shooting low left footed through the legs of Peter Schmeichel to level the match.
| GK | 1 | Hans Vonk | ||
| DF | 3 | |||
| DF | 5 | Mark Fish | ||
| DF | 19 | Lucas Radebe (c) | ||
| DF | 21 | |||
| MF | 7 | Quinton Fortune | ||
| MF | 10 | John Moshoeu | ||
| MF | 11 | Helman Mkhalele | ||
| FW | 9 | |||
| FW | 12 | |||
| FW | 17 | Benni McCarthy | ||
| Substitutions: | ||||
| MF | 8 | |||
| FW | 6 | |||
| FW | 13 | |||
| Manager: | ||||
| Philippe Troussier | ||||
| GK | 1 | |||
| DF | 2 | |||
| DF | 3 | Marc Rieper | ||
| DF | 4 | |||
| DF | 6 | Thomas Helveg | ||
| DF | 12 | Søren Colding | ||
| MF | 7 | Allan Nielsen | ||
| MF | 10 | Michael Laudrup (c) | ||
| MF | 21 | Martin Jørgensen | ||
| FW | 11 | Brian Laudrup | ||
| FW | 19 | |||
| Substitutions: | ||||
| DF | 5 | |||
| FW | 9 | |||
| MF | 14 | |||
| Manager: | ||||
| Bo Johansson | ||||
| Assistant referees
|
| GK | 1 | Hans Vonk | ||
| DF | 3 | David Nyathi | ||
| DF | 4 | |||
| DF | 5 | Mark Fish | ||
| DF | 19 | Lucas Radebe (c) | ||
| DF | 21 | Pierre Issa | ||
| MF | 7 | |||
| MF | 10 | John Moshoeu | ||
| MF | 11 | Helman Mkhalele | ||
| FW | 9 | Shaun Bartlett | ||
| FW | 17 | |||
| Substitutions: | ||||
| FW | 13 | |||
| FW | 14 | |||
| MF | 15 | |||
| Manager: | ||||
| Philippe Troussier | ||||
| GK | 1 | Mohamed Al-Deayea | ||
| DF | 2 | Mohammed Al-Jahani | ||
| DF | 4 | Abdullah Zubromawi | ||
| DF | 13 | Hussein Sulaimani | ||
| MF | 6 | Fuad Amin (c) | ||
| MF | 16 | |||
| MF | 18 | Nawaf Al-Temyat | ||
| MF | 20 | Hamzah Saleh | ||
| FW | 9 | Sami Al-Jaber | ||
| FW | 11 | |||
| FW | 15 | |||
| Substitutions: | ||||
| MF | 7 | |||
| MF | 12 | |||
| Manager: | ||||
| Mohammed Al-Kharashy | ||||
| Assistant referees |
See main article: 2002 FIFA World Cup Group B. Head coach: Jomo Sono
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| Man of the Match: Francisco Arce (Paraguay) Assistant referees: |
Siyabonga Nomvethe scored the only goal of the game, in the fourth minute. A free kick from Quinton Fortune on the left came to Nomvethe and although he mistimed his header, the ball cannoned into the net off his thigh.
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| Man of the Match: Quinton Fortune (South Africa) Assistant referees: |
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| Man of the Match: Raúl (Spain) Assistant referees: |
See main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup Group A. Coach: Carlos Alberto Parreira
South Africa vs Mexico was the opening match of the World Cup, held on 11 June 2010.[7] It was described as an "enthralling" and "pulsating" match. South Africa opened the scoring in the 55th minute after Siphiwe Tshabalala scored off a pass through Mexico's defence by Teko Modise. Mexico's captain Rafael Márquez equalised following a corner kick in the 79th minute.[8] In the final minutes of the match, Katlego Mphela almost scored a winning goal for South Africa, but his shot bounced off the post.[7]
Tshabalala was named as the man of the match. South Africa's coach, Carlos Alberto Parreira called the result "fair", while Mexico's coach Javier Aguirre stated "we could have won, we could have lost".[9]
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| Man of the Match: Siphiwe Tshabalala (South Africa)
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| Man of the Match: Diego Forlán (Uruguay)
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Two teams have met three times but recently in the 1998 FIFA World Cup won by France 30.
Bongani Khumalo scored the first goal to make it 10 in 25th minute Yoann Gourcuff was shown a red card after a serious foul, Katlego Mphela made it 20 in half-time, South Africa made several chances in second half, Hugo Lloris saved Katlego Mphela's shot to make a third goal, Bacary Sagna made a back pass to the French player Florent Malouda scored a goal to make it 21 from an assist by Franck Ribéry, South Africa made even more chances in second half, 2-1 was the final score of the match. France were eliminated from the World Cup with a single point in the Group stage.
Although South Africa became the first host nation to exit the World Cup group stage in history.
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| Man of the Match: Katlego Mphela (South Africa)
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| Rank | Player | Matches | World Cups | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Quinton Fortune | 6 | 1998 and 2002 | |
| Benni McCarthy | 6 | 1998 and 2002 | ||
| Lucas Radebe | 6 | 1998 and 2002 | ||
| Aaron Mokoena | 6 | 2002 and 2010 | ||
| 5 | Pierre Issa | 4 | 1998 and 2002 | |
| MacBeth Sibaya | 4 | 2002 and 2010 | ||
| 7 | 21 players | 3 |
| Rank | Player | Goals | World Cups |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shaun Bartlett | 2 | 1998 |
| Benni McCarthy | 2 | 1998 and 2002 | |
| 3 | Quinton Fortune | 1 | 2002 |
| Teboho Mokoena | 1 | 2002 | |
| Siyabonga Nomvethe | 1 | 2002 | |
| Lucas Radebe | 1 | 2002 | |
| Bongani Khumalo | 1 | 2010 | |
| Katlego Mphela | 1 | 2010 | |
| Siphiwe Tshabalala | 1 | 2010 | |