South Africa and Benin will have a top-of-the-table group C clash in the 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers when they meet at the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium in Abidjan on the evening of Tuesday 25 March. Kick-off is at 6pm CAT.
Match background
South Africa claimed top spot in group C on Friday evening when they defeated Lesotho 2-0 in Polokwane. Bafana Bafana had to endure a frustrating first hour of the match before goals from Relebohile Mofokeng and Jayden Adams took them to victory.
As things stand .....#BafanaPride@SABC_Sport pic.twitter.com/0bDt4bsgPd
— Bafana Bafana (@BafanaBafana) March 22, 2025
Benin had claimed top spot the day before thanks to a 2-2 draw away to Zimbabwe in neutral Durban, with Steve Mounie and Dodo Dokou scoring to put the Cheetahs in charge before the Warriors struck back via Knowledge Musona and Marshall Munetsi.
Along with Nigeria’s 2-0 away win over former leaders Rwanda in Kigali on Friday (Victor Osimhen scored a brace for the West African heavyweights), the results have seen group C take a more definable shape.
South Africa are top with 10 points, with Benin (8), Rwanda (7), Nigeria (6) and even Lesotho (5) still just about in contention for qualification, while Zimbabwe (3) appear destined for the wooden spoon.
What the teams are saying
Benin coach Gernot Rohr on the challenge of facing South Africa:
“You can say they are favourites, especially South Africa, but we shall see. But for us, we are preparing well.”
South Africa coach Hugo Broos on his team’s win over Lesotho and their strong position in group C:
“I'm very happy with the performance of my team [...] and the pre-meeting that maybe [against Lesotho] we have to fight more than to play football but we did good. We are first in the group now, two points ahead, I think this is a good situation.”
Key players
Steve Mounie, Benin
The veteran striker netted his third goal of the World Cup qualification campaign last week when he scored the opener in the 2-2 draw with Zimbabwe. Mounie has already stung Bafana Bafana’s defence in this campaign and will fancy doing so again in this key group C clash.
Jayden Adams, South Africa
With his industry and energy in midfield, Jayden Adams helped South Africa dominate their match against Lesotho on Friday, and he also scored his first goal for Bafana Bafana. The 23-year-old will target another powerful display in Abidjan on Tuesday evening.
Head-to-head
In head-to-head stats, Benin and South Africa have met in just two previous matches. The most recent was a World Cup qualifier from earlier in this group C campaign, which Bafana Bafana won 2-1 in Durban in November 2023 (with goals from Percy Tau, Khuliso Mudau and Steve Mounie), while the first was a 2004 Africa Cup of Nations group-stage match won 2-0 by SA (with a brace from Siyabonga Nomvethe) in Sfax, Tunisia.