Bafana Bafana
His First Team
⚽ Pitso's First Call-Up
It is official. Pitso Mosimane has named his first Bafana Bafana squad — and Talking Bafana's Grant de Smidt and Lindo Pep are here to break it all down.
The new head coach has selected a 30-man group for a defining September window that includes AFCON 2027 qualifying clashes against Guinea and Eritrea, as well as a friendly against Egypt — a fixture that carries its own weight given Egypt's stature on the African continent and Mosimane's own storied history with the country.
The selections have already sparked debate. Orlando Pirates midfielder Moremi — a regular under Hugo Broos — finds himself dropped from the squad, while Kaizer Chiefs man Maboe earns a recall. In the absence of the injured Foster and the out-of-form Makgopa, Yanela Mbuthuma gets the nod up front — a pick that reflects both the depth of Mosimane's thinking and the opportunity now presenting itself to a player who has been knocking on the door.
Grant and Lindo go through the squad name by name — the bold picks, the omissions that will raise eyebrows and the players who now have a genuine chance to stake a claim under South African football's most decorated coach.
Source: 3nul.com
Images: Getty, Lorenz Kohler
It's finally official
⚽ Pitso Mosimane Faces the Media as Bafana Bafana Head Coach
The wait is over. Pitso Mosimane stepped in front of the cameras as the official head coach of Bafana Bafana — and South African football has not felt this electric about a national team appointment in a very long time.
Mosimane's first media address as Hugo Broos's successor was everything you would expect from a man of his stature and experience. Composed, assured and immediately authoritative, he spoke with the clarity of a coach who knows exactly what he wants from his team and from the nation that has entrusted him with its football future. He has been here before — building squads, winning titles, changing cultures. He knows the weight of the job. He also knows, better than most, what South African football is capable of when everything clicks.
The timing of his appointment is significant. Bafana Bafana arrive at a genuine inflection point — a generation of talented young players, a World Cup on African soil in 2030 that will demand the very best from the national team, and a supporter base hungry for the kind of bold, attacking football that Mosimane has always sought to play. The question is no longer whether Bafana can compete. The question is how far they can go.
Pitso Mosimane has been answering that question with trophies for twenty years. South Africa is ready to find out what he can do with the nation's greatest football asset.
Source: 3nul.com
Images: Getty, Lorenz Kohler
He's got the Job
⚽ Mosimane Returns as Bafana Bafana Head Coach
South African football has been waiting for this moment for years. On Saturday the 8th of August 2026, the South African Football Association's National Executive Committee made it official — approving the appointment of Pitso Mosimane as the new Bafana Bafana head coach at an Extraordinary Meeting held at SAFA House. The formal announcement is expected next week, but the decision is made. Jingosi is coming home.
SAFA President Dr Danny Jordaan confirmed the outcome immediately after the meeting: "The NEC has approved the appointment of coach Pitso to Bafana Bafana, but we still need to tie up some loose ends. We will make a formal announcement of the coach next week."
Why Now — and Why Pitso
The timing is not coincidental. Bafana Bafana return from the 2026 FIFA World Cup on the crest of a wave — having qualified for the tournament for the first time in 24 years and made history by reaching the Round of 32, the country's first-ever knockout stage appearance. Thapelo Maseko's lone strike against South Korea in Monterrey, Mexico delivered that historic moment.
The head coach position became vacant after Hugo Broos, 74, resigned on the 31st of July following a successful five-year tenure. The Belgian had transformed Bafana from also-rans into genuine continental competitors — winning bronze at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations and guiding the team to the World Cup. His departure left a significant void. SAFA moved quickly and decisively to fill it with a name that resonates deeply across South African football.
Mosimane is the obvious choice — and in South African football, the obvious choice is rarely the one taken. That SAFA moved with such conviction and speed speaks to the scale of the moment and the recognition that this is no time for caution.
A Return That Was Always Written
Mosimane previously coached Bafana Bafana between 2010 and 2012 — first as assistant to Carlos Alberto Parreira during the 2010 World Cup on home soil, before being promoted to head coach. His first stint ended with his dismissal in 2012, a departure that stung at the time but that history has placed in its proper context: the beginning of a career trajectory that would take him to the very summit of African club football.
What followed that SAFA exit is the story of the most decorated coaching career in South African football history. At Mamelodi Sundowns, Mosimane won five PSL titles and guided the club to the 2016 CAF Champions League trophy — making him the first South African coach ever to win the competition. He then moved to Egyptian giants Al Ahly, where he added two more CAF Champions League titles to his collection and guided the club to two FIFA Club World Cup bronze medals. He later coached Al Wahda in Abu Dhabi, and has spent the time since the end of that contract building his profile as a football development advocate, media personality and continental ambassador for South African football.
The 62-year-old now returns to the national team with South Africa preparing for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers — and with a nation hungry to build on the World Cup breakthrough rather than allow it to become a one-off moment.
What He Inherits
The squad Mosimane inherits is not the Bafana of 2010 — raw, inconsistent and lacking continental experience. This is a group that has been to a World Cup, that has beaten South Korea in a knockout environment, that has players performing at the highest levels across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Relebohile Mofokeng — freshly installed at Royale Union Saint-Gilloise in Belgium, winner of the Belgian Super Cup with a decisive penalty on his debut — is just 21 years old. The platform is real.
The challenge Mosimane faces is equally real. AFCON qualification must be secured. The 2030 World Cup cycle — to be hosted partly in Morocco — must be planned for with ambition and structure. And the development philosophy he has been articulating publicly for months must now be implemented at the level where it matters most.
Source: 3nul.com
Images: Getty, Mail&Guardian
Football Mourns
⚽ Bafana Bafana and Mamelodi Sundowns Midfielder Jayden Adams Passes Away at 25
South African football is in mourning. Mamelodi Sundowns and Bafana Bafana midfielder Jayden Adams, who featured in South Africa's historic 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign, has died at the age of 25. His body was found on Saturday morning in a house in the Schotschekloof suburb of central Cape Town, where police have begun an investigation into his death. No cause of death has yet been confirmed.
The news was confirmed by South Africa's Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Gayton McKenzie, who said: "It is with profound shock and a heavy heart that I have learnt of the passing of Jayden Adams, midfielder for Mamelodi Sundowns and Bafana Bafana, at the age of 25. South African football has lost one of its brightest young talents, and our nation mourns alongside his family, his team-mates and the millions of supporters who watched him grow from a promising academy prospect into a full Bafana Bafana international.
Adams, born on 5 May 2001 in Mamelodi, featured in all three of South Africa's group stage matches at the 2026 World Cup — starting against Mexico and Czechia, and coming off the bench in the famous 1-0 victory over South Korea that earned Bafana Bafana their first-ever place in the knockout rounds. His grandmother had passed away just a day before the Czechia fixture, and he was replaced at half-time during that match. He made his international debut against Mozambique in 2022 and won 13 caps, scoring two goals — both in World Cup qualifying.
Adams trained at Stellenbosch FC, where he became the first academy graduate to sign a professional contract, making his senior debut in August 2020. He helped Mamelodi Sundowns win the CAF Champions League in the 2025/26 season.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino said: "It is so incredibly sad to hear that South Africa midfielder Jayden Adams has passed away just weeks after featuring in his nation's historic FIFA World Cup campaign. My thoughts and condolences, as well as those of everyone at FIFA and the global football community, are with his family, friends and team-mates. The Bafana and Mamelodi Sundowns star will be sorely missed. May he rest in peace."
The South African Football Players Union said: "South African football has lost a gifted player, a proud servant of the game and a young life that still had so much to offer." Mamelodi Sundowns, in a statement from the Motsepe family and the club's board of directors, expressed their deepest condolences to the Adams family.
Jayden Adams was 25 years old. He had just helped make history for his country.
May his memory be blessed!
Source: 3nul.com
Images: Getty, Supersport Football
Bafana Bafana at the World Cup 26
⚽ Press conference ahead of the match between South Africa and South Korea
It's do or die for Bafana on Wednesday evening. Let's hear what the coach has to say.
Source : 3nul.com
Images: Getty, Supersport Football
Bafana Bafana at the World Cup 26
⚽ Mabasa Talks Current Bafana Bafana World Cup Squad
He was one of the most lethal finishers in the DStv Premiership during his time at Orlando Pirates — a striker whose movement, composure and eye for goal made him a firm favourite at the Orlando Stadium. Now, as Tshegofatso Mabasa stands on the threshold of an exciting new chapter in his football career, he sits down for a conversation that goes well beyond the goals and the glory.
In this candid and wide-ranging interview, Mabasa shares his honest assessment of the current Bafana Bafana World Cup squad — who has impressed him, what the team needs, and what it will take for South Africa to make a real mark on the global stage. But perhaps most powerfully, he opens up about a subject that South African football has too often shied away from: the mental wellbeing of players, and why more needs to be done to support those who carry the weight of public expectation both on and off the pitch.
Source: 3nul.com
Images: Getty, Supersport Football
