Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos has appealed to the South African Football Association (SAFA) to book a chartered flight for his players and staff traveling to Mexico for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
South Africa will be based in Pachuca, Mexico, for the tournament and are hoping to arrive in the country around 31 May in order to acclimate ahead of the opening game of the tournament, which pits Bafana Bafana against hosts Mexico in Mexico City on 11 June.
“And I beg again, I beg, really beg SAFA and all those people who can arrange that, that we go with a charter to Mexico,” said Broos, speaking to members of the media after the announcement of his Bafana Bafana squad on Thursday.
The Belgian tactician detailed his lengthy travel to reach Pachuca when he visited to scout the location for the Bafana camp.
“I was in Mexico a few weeks ago. I travelled from Joburg to Atlanta, 16 hours on the plane. I wait three hours and I fly from Atlanta to Mexico City, again three hours, and from Mexico City to Pachuca with a bus, it’s nearly two hours. Count also the two hours you have to be in the airport for departure. That means that you are 26 hours on the way. When you arrive in that way to Mexico on the 31st [of May], you need two, three days before you recuperate. You lose two, three days,” he said.
“So, again, and I told already SAFA and I told already the people who has to know it, please, please, I beg you, make a charter for us that we can fly from here direct to Mexico City and it will help us a lot. It will help us a lot.”
Bafana Bafana will face Panama on 27 March and 31 March in Durban and Cape Town respectively in preparation for the global showpiece.
