sportbible
Bafana Bafana has maintained its position at 57th in the latest FIFA Coca-Cola World Rankings released on Thursday.
This is not unexpected, as the national team did not participate in any international matches throughout December.
Consequently, South Africa remains in 10th place in the African rankings, which is an unfavorable position as the draw for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations approaches. CAF has scheduled this draw for 27 January 2025 in Morocco, which will host the tournament.
Due to Bafana Bafana’s failure to secure a top-eight ranking, they will not be seeded in the draw. This could lead to a challenging group stage, potentially facing off against highly-ranked African teams such as Morocco, Senegal, Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Mali, and Tunisia.
In the postponed 2023 AFCON held in Ivory Coast earlier this year, Bafana faced two top-tier teams—Mali and Tunisia—alongside the unseeded Namibia, which was ranked lower.
Although they advanced to the knockout rounds, Bafana lost their opening Group E match against Mali, but later defeated Namibia and drew with Tunisia, which was enough to move on to the next stage. In the end, Bafana Bafana earned a bronze medal, finishing third for the first time since the 2000 tournament.
The next FIFA World Rankings are set to be released on 3 April 2025, reflecting the results of international matches scheduled for March 2025, coinciding with the restart of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in the CAF region.
