Baloyi blasts SAFA over Mokoena eligibility fiasco

03/27/2025 05:00 AM

Former Bafana Bafana goalkeeper Brian Baloyi is not pleased with the South African Football Association (SAFA) after they neglected to notice that midfielder Teboho Mokoena was not eligible to play against Lesotho in the World Cup qualifiers.

The national team won the match 2-0, however, just hours before they had to play their second match against Benin in Ivory Coast, it came to light that Mokoena was not supposed to play as he had collected two previous yellow cards.

As a result, Bafana are most likely to be docked the three points they won against Likuena for the oversight.

Baloyi says SAFA should not be making such a costly mistake and "heads must roll" of whoever was meant to check the yellow cards according to TimesLIVE.

"If our management can make such schoolboy errors and no-one takes accountability, then it will tell us as a nation that at SAFA House we are running a Mickey Mouse organisation," he said.

"If you are running a world-class organisation, then people must be accountable and heads must roll for such issues.

"This is a serious issue, we are qualifying for the World Cup, the highest honour for players and nation," Baloyi said at an Honor event in Sandton earlier this week.

"If we are making such errors that will cost us points then what are we saying to the young players who we are expecting to be world-class? What are we saying to them when we make such errors administratively and no-one is held accountable?"

Baloyi acknowledged the likely three-point deduction for Bafana Bafana but stressed that coach Hugo Broos and his staff must maintain the team’s morale.

He reminded everyone that they still lead their group and need to give their all to secure their first World Cup qualification since 2002, excluding their appearance as hosts.