Nation Qualifies For First World Cup in Over a Decade Despite FIFA Enforcing 3-0 Forfeit

They've done it. South Africa have qualified for their first World Cup since 2010, just weeks after they were punished by a FIFA disciplinary committee for breaching competition rules.

It has been a rocky road to qualification for South Africa, whose hopes of reaching next summer's World Cup were dented after they were forced to forfeit their 2-0 win over Lesotho.

Teboho Mokoena, a midfielder with 41 caps to his name, featured in the Group C clash in March last year, despite the midfielder being due to serve a one-match suspension after picking up two yellow cards.

As a result, Mokoena breached Article 19 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code and Article 14 of the FIFA World Cup 2026 Preliminary Competition Regulations.

According to the FIFA Disciplinary Code: "If a team fields a player who is not eligible to participate (due to suspension, registration issues, nationality, etc.), the match is automatically forfeited. The default result is a 3-0 loss, unless the actual result was even more disadvantageous to the offending team."

Speaking last month, head coach Hugo Broos admitted that an error had been made surrounding Mokoena's ineligibility but added that 'there was no complaint'.

South Africa were fined CHF 10,000 (around £9,300) by FIFA, but more importantly, they were forced to forfeit the match 3-0, meaning they dropped from top of the table to second, behind Benin on goal difference.

It was a tense situation, but on Tuesday night, after Benin suffered a 4-0 defeat to Nigeria, a dominant South Africa automatically qualified for the World Cup as group winners as they celebrated a 3-0 win over Rwanda.

It is the first time they've qualified for the World Cup since they hosted it in 2010.

Siphiwe Tshabalala describes what it was like to score opening goal at 2010 World Cup

On the afternoon of June 11, 2010 – in the 54th minute of South Africa's eagerly anticipated opener against Mexico – the 94,000-capacity Soccer City stadium erupted into a chorus of Vuvuzela-inspired noise.

After a tense first half of few chances, Siphiwe Tshabalala netted a memorable effort to open the scoring.

"People still talk about how much of an impact this goal has on them," Tshabalala told SPORTbible in 2020. "People across the world still give me love. I'm just grateful that I've touched lives through my god-given talent. It gave people hope. It united a nation."

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He added: "As soon as the ball left my boot, I knew it was going in," he confidently tells us, just days before the 10-year anniversary.

"It was crazy. It was brilliant. It was emotional. But it also took me back to when I was a little child - full of dreams, wanting to play on the big stage and years later, I'm scoring as the world watches. It was such a big moment for me, South Africa and the world at large."