South Africa at the Africa Cup of Nations

Although the football team for South Africa participated in the Africa Cup of Nations much later than many African countries (the country was scheduled to participate in inaugural 1957 Africa Cup of Nations but was excluded because of apartheid^[1]), as they participated for the first time as host of 1996 edition, South Africa has soon established itself as an emerging African power. The first edition South Africa participated was a complete success, with the team conquered their first, and only African trophy, on their debut.^[2]^[3] Since then, South Africa continues to participate and remains a reckoned force, though success has been elusive since the 2000s. Outside the 1996 edition, South Africa also hosted 2013 Africa Cup of Nations and managed to advance to the quarter-finals.^[4] They again reached the quarter-finals in the 2019 edition of the tournament, and finished third at the 2023 tournament.

Overall record

Africa Cup of Nations record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1957	Disqualified due to apartheid
1959	Banned
1962
1963
1965
1968
1970
1972
1974
1976
1978
1980
1982
1984
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994	Did not qualify
1996	Champions	1st	6	5	0	1	11	2
1998	Runners-up	2nd	6	3	2	1	9	6
2000	Third place	3rd	6	3	2	1	8	6
2002	Quarter-finals	6th	4	1	2	1	3	3
2004	Group stage	11th	3	1	1	1	3	5
2006		16th	3	0	0	3	0	5
2008		13th	3	0	2	1	3	5
2010	Did not qualify
2012	Did not qualify
2013	Quarter-finals	6th	4	1	2	1	5	3
2015	Group stage	15th	3	0	1	2	3	6
2017	Did not qualify
2019	Quarter-finals	7th	5	2	0	3	3	4
2021	Did not qualify
2023	Third place	3rd	7	2	4	1	7	3
2025	To be determined
2027	To be determined
Total	1 Title	11/34	50	18	16	16	55	48

*Red border colour indicates tournament was held on home soil.

South Africa's Africa Cup of Nations record
First Match	South Africa 3–0 Cameroon (13 January 1996; Johannesburg, South Africa)
Biggest Win	South Africa 4–0 Namibia (21 January 2024; Korhogo, Ivory Coast)
Biggest Defeat	Nigeria 4–0 South Africa (31 January 2004; Monastir, Tunisia)
Best Result	Champions in 1996
Worst Result	16th place in 2006

Match history

Year	Date	Location	Round	Opponent	Result	South Africa scorers
1996	13 January 1996	Johannesburg	Group stage	Cameroon	3–0	Phil Masinga 15' Mark Williams 37' John Moshoeu 55'
	20 January 1996			Angola	1–0	Mark Williams 57'
	24 January 1996			Egypt	0–1
	27 January 1996		Quarter-finals	Algeria	2–1	Mark Fish 72' John Moshoeu 85'
	31 January 1996		Semi-finals	Ghana	3–0	John Moshoeu 22', 87' Shaun Bartlett 46'
	3 February 1996		Final	Tunisia	2–0	Mark Williams 73', 75'
1998	8 February 1998	Bobo-Dioulasso	Group stage	Angola	0–0
	11 February 1998			Ivory Coast	1–1	Helman Mkhalele 8' (pen.)
	16 February 1998			Namibia	4–1	Benni McCarthy 8', 11', 19', 21'
	22 February 1998	Ouagadougou	Quarter-finals	Morocco	2–1	Benni McCarthy 22' David Nyathi 79'
	25 February 1998		Semi-finals	DR Congo	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Benni McCarthy 60', 112'
	28 February 1998		Final	Egypt	0–2
2000	23 January 2000	Kumasi	Group stage	Gabon	3–1	Dumisa Ngobe 43' Shaun Bartlett 55', 78'
	27 January 2000			DR Congo	1–0	Shaun Bartlett 44'
	2 February 2000			Algeria	1–1	Shaun Bartlett 2'
	6 February 2000		Quarter-finals	Ghana	1–0	Siyabonga Nomvethe 42'
	10 February 2000	Lagos	Semi-finals	Nigeria	0–2
	12 February 2000	Accra	Third place play-off	Tunisia	2–2 (4–3 p)	Shaun Bartlett 11' Siyabonga Nomvethe 62'
2002	20 January 2002	Ségou	Group stage	Burkina Faso	0–0
	24 January 2002			Ghana	0–0
	30 January 2002			Morocco	3–1	Sibusiso Zuma 42' Thabo Mngomeni 48' Siyabonga Nomvethe 51'
	3 February 2002	Kayes	Quarter-finals	Mali	0–2
2004	27 January 2004	Sfax	Group stage	Benin	2–0	Siyabonga Nomvethe 58', 76'
	31 January 2004	Monastir		Nigeria	0–4
	4 February 2004	Sousse		Morocco	1–1	Patrick Mayo 29'
2006	22 January 2006	Alexandria	Group stage	Guinea	0–2
	26 January 2006			Tunisia	0–2
	30 January 2006			Zambia	0–1
2008	23 January 2008	Tamale	Group stage	Angola	1–1	Elrio van Heerden 87'
	27 January 2008	Tamale		Tunisia	1–3	Katlego Mphela 87'
	31 January 2008	Kumasi		Senegal	1–1	Elrio van Heerden 14'
2013	19 January 2013	Johannesburg	Group stage	Cape Verde	0–0
	23 January 2013	Durban		Angola	2–0	Siyabonga Sangweni 30' Lehlohonolo Majoro 62'
	27 January 2013			Morocco	2–2	May Mahlangu 71' Siyabonga Sangweni 86'
	2 February 2013		Quarter-finals	Mali	1–1 (1–3 p)	Tokelo Rantie 31'
2015	19 January 2015	Mongomo	Group stage	Algeria	1–3	Thuso Phala 51'
	23 January 2015			Senegal	1–1	Oupa Manyisa 47'
	27 January 2015			Ghana	1–2	Mandla Masango 17'
2019	24 June 2019	Cairo	Group stage	Ivory Coast	0–1
	28 June 2019			Namibia	1–0	Bongani Zungu 68'
	1 July 2019			Morocco	0–1
	6 July 2019		Round of 16	Egypt	1–0	Thembinkosi Lorch 85'
	10 July 2019		Quarter-finals	Nigeria	1–2	Bongani Zungu 71'
2023	16 January 2024	Korhogo	Group stage	Mali	0–2
	21 January 2024			Namibia	4–0	Percy Tau 14' (pen.) Themba Zwane 25', 40' Thapelo Maseko 75'
	24 January 2024			Tunisia	0–0
	30 January 2024	San Pédro	Round of 16	Morocco	2–0	Thapelo Maseko 57' Teboho Mokoena 90+5'
	3 February 2024	Yamoussoukro	Quarter-finals	Cape Verde	0–0 (2–1 p)
	7 February 2024	Bouaké	Semi-finals	Nigeria	1–1 (2–4 p)	Teboho Mokoena 90' (pen.)
	10 February 2024	Abidjan	Third place play-off	DR Congo	0–0 (6–5 p)

Top goalscorers

Phil Masinga was the first player to score for South Africa at the Africa Cup of Nations (1996). Benni McCarthy was the first and so far only player to score a hat-trick for South Africa at the tournament (1998).

Benni McCarthy is South Africa's all-time top goalscorer at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Rank	Player	Goals	Years (goals)
1	Benni McCarthy	7	1998
2	Shaun Bartlett	6	1996 (1) and 2000 (5)
3	Siyabonga Nomvethe	5	2000 (2), 2002 and 2004 (2)
4	John Moshoeu	4	1996
4	Mark Williams	4	1996

Squads

References

^ Khaled Abul-Oyoun; Ken Knight; Neil Morrison; Karel Stokkermans (3 October 2013). "African Nations Cup 1957". Retrieved 14 May 2018.
^ "How Bafana won the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations". KickOff.
^ John, Sivan (12 September 2018). "When football healed a nation: South Africa's 1996 AFCON win". Footy Analyst. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
^ "Mali kick Bafana out of 2013 Afcon". SAnews. 4 February 2013.

External links

Africa Cup of Nations – Archives competitions – cafonline.com

[rsf-1] Khaled Abul-Oyoun; Ken Knight; Neil Morrison; Karel Stokkermans (3 October 2013). "African Nations Cup 1957". Retrieved 14 May 2018.

[2] "How Bafana won the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations". KickOff.

[3] John, Sivan (12 September 2018). "When football healed a nation: South Africa's 1996 AFCON win". Footy Analyst. Retrieved 14 October 2023.

[4] "Mali kick Bafana out of 2013 Afcon". SAnews. 4 February 2013.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]