Bafana Bafana have to submit a preliminary squad by Wednesday to world footballing body Fifa for the 2026 World Cup finals in the USA, Canada and Mexico.
June 1 Bafana deadline
That squad, from anywhere between 35 to 55 players, will be narrowed down by Bafana head coach Hugo Broos and his technical staff to a final squad of 23 to 26 players by Fifa’s deadline of June 1.
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The South African Football Association (Safa) have yet to announce when Broos will make his final squad publish, but either way Fifa will publish all the World Cup squads on their official website on June 2.
All final squads must include at least three goalkeepers, and while Bafana Bafana captain Ronwen Williams is the clear South African number one, there is a bit of a scrap for the other two positions.
Orlando Pirates goalkeeper Sipho Chaine broke the record for clean sheets in a single Betway Premiership season over the weekend, recording his 19th in Saturday’s 3-0 win at Magesi FC.
Chaine, however, is far from a certainty to head to Mexico with the squad. Broos left him out of Bafana’s last squad for friendlies against Panama, preferring Siwelele ‘keeper Ricardo Goss and Sekhukhune United goalkeeper Renaldo Leaner.
And there is also the emergence of Brandon Petersen. Broos admitted that the Kaizer Chiefs ‘keeper would have been called up for the Panama games had he not been injured.
Petersen has been in superb form for Amakhosi this season, and reports have suggested he will be in the final squad if he is not injured between now and the end of the campaign.
It will be a fascinating call from the Bafana head coach, with Chaine entitled to be upset if he does not make the grade.
VAR rollout
Safa, meanwhile, confirmed over the weekend that they hope to be rolling out the Video Assistant Referee system in time for the start of the 2026/27 Premier Soccer League season.
This move has been spearheaded by Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie, with the government giving Safa R20 million to implement the controversial system.
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“Yes, the government has been very generous and given us R20 million to implement VAR,” confirmed the chairperson of Safa’s finance committee Mxolisi Sibam at this weekend’s Safa National Executive Committee meeting.
“We are in the process at the current NEC of going to get the final approval of the budget. This work has been going on for the past seven months or so. The target is that when next season starts, VAR is up and running.”
