Bafana Bafana face points deduction

03/25/2025 12:18 PM

South Africa face a potential points deduction in their 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifying campaign for fielding Teboho Mokoena in the 2-0 win over Lesotho last Friday evening.

According to FIFA regulations, a player who picks up two yellow cards in separate matches must serve a one-match suspension.

Mokoena received a yellow card in the opening World Cup qualifier with Benin in November 2023, as well as against Zimbabwe in July last year – making him ineligible to play in the match against Likuena.

Mokoena played 82 minutes at the Peter Mokaba Stadium before being replaced by Thalente Mbatha.

The Lesotho Football Association (LFA) has confirmed it has sent a query to FIFA over this issue.

FIFA details the regulations as follows:

8. Protests

8. 3. Protests regarding the eligibility of players selected for matches in the preliminary competition shall be submitted in writing to the FIFA Match Commissioner within two hours of the match in question and followed up with a full written report, including a copy of the original protest, to be submitted to the FIFA Disciplinary Committee in accordance with the applicable provisions of the FIFA Disciplinary Code and by email to qualifiers@fifa.org within 24 hours of the end of the match and shall be dealt with by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee, otherwise they will be disregarded.

9. Yellow and red cards

9. 3.If players or team officials receive two cautions in one match (in matches decided by penalties) or in two different matches of the competition, they will be automatically suspended from their team's subsequent match.

South Africa currently top Group C of the qualifiers on 10 points, with Benin (8), Rwanda (7), Nigeria (6), Lesotho (5) and Zimbabwe (3) making up the rest of the table.