When Bafana Bafana line up against Eritrea in Cairo on Wednesday in the second of their 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, the small Red Sea state will become South Africa’s 50th African opponent.
Only Djibouti, Somalia, and Togo have yet to come up against the South African national team since the country’s readmission to world football in 1992.
The tally has come up in double quick time in comparison to other countries who also sit on 50 different opponents but have played in international competition for many more decades than South Africa.
The country joins Cameroon, Ghana and Tunisia in becoming only the fourth African nation to play against 50 other African countries. No African country has a clean sweep of playing against all the Confederation of African Football members.
Algeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Sudan have all played 49 different African countries.
Zambia has been South Africa’s most frequent opponent with 25 past clashes. Zambia is also one of the few African countries with a winning record against Bafana, having won nine times against South Africa with nine draws and seven defeats.
South Africa also has a losing record against Nigeria, who they have beaten only twice in 18 meetings with eight draws and eight defeats, but Bafana have a winning record against other leading countries like Egypt, Ghana, and Ivory Coast.
South Africa has registered the most wins against Botswana with 14 in 20 past meetings and the most goals (31), while their nine losses to Zambia are the most to a single nation.
Nigeria is the country with the best scoring record, hitting the back of the Bafana net a total of 28 times.
Of South Africa’s previous 49 African opponents, Mauritania is the only country they have never beaten. The pair shared the same group in the 2017 Cup of Nations qualifying campaign with Mauritania winning 3-1 at home in Nouakchott and then holding on to a 1-1 draw in Nelspruit in the last match of the group when
South Africa’s internationals began against Cameroon in 1992 and their country is now closing in on 500 international matches.
FIFA claims South Africa are on 498 games but have included results from early Cosafa and African Nations Championship games that South Africa did not consider ‘A’ internationals because they fielded club reserves.
South Africa’s own records, which include subsequent CHAN and Cosafa fixtures despite the country fielding sub-standard teams, have Bafana at 489 matches played with 214 wins, 151 draws and 124 defeats.
Next week’s fixture against Eritrea will be the second qualifier for South Africa in Group D of the 2027 Cup of Nations preliminaries, following Saturday’s home game against Guinea.