Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos has achieved what he set out to do in 2023, securing South Africa’s return to the FIFA World Cup for the first time since 2010.
South Africa sealed its spot at the upcoming World Cup with a 3-0 win over Benin at the Mbombela Stadium on Tuesday, while Nigeria beat Benin 4-0 in Uyo.
With their victory and Benin’s loss, Bafana Bafana finished at the top of group C, one point above both Nigeria and Benin.
Broos was quick to heap praise on his staff and those involved in South Africa’s qualifying journey after the team’s win on Tuesday.
“This is really a fantastic evening for everyone. This is not only the coach, I’m part of it. This is the team who worked for the last three years to have all those performances and nice moments. I can’t forget my staff because they helped me a lot,” said Broos, speaking after the game.
“So, we are a bunch of people who have only one goal and that is doing good performances and winning things. And I think this is not a work for me alone.”
The former Belgian international emphasised that Bafana Bafana built to this point over the course of three years and expressed his pleasure at lifting the country back to the world’s stage after missing out on three consecutive World Cups.
“You need a plan and you need to keep you on the plan because you know that this is the right way. And this is what we did in the last three years. This is fantastic, not only for us as coach or player or whatever, but for all the nation. I heard somebody saying on the pitch after the game, ‘Everybody laughed at Bafana, Bafana. We were a joke and now we are there’. We are on a high level and everybody respects us. And this again is not the work only for me. So at last, I think that this is something that this nation needed,” Broos said.
As a player, Broos represented Belgium at the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, which will co-host the 2026 edition with the USA and Canada. The Bafana Bafana coach stated that this served as a major source of motivation for him during the qualification campaign and reiterated that he will retire following the tournament next year.
“I hoped maybe more, even more than every player or every man of the group that we should go to America. For me, it’s a sentimental reason. You all know that I was already in a World Cup at the end of my career as a player. And now I do it again. And I think this is the right moment next year after the World Cup to stop my career and to go to my family and enjoy the next 20 years [with] my grandchildren and my children. But first of all, there is some work to do and we will try to do it well,” he said.
Bafana Bafana will be back in action at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Morocco in December.
