Bafana Bafana are on a 21-game unbeaten run in home qualifiers for the continental finals, having last lost 1-0 to Nigeria in 2008.
There is a slight caveat to that record, however, as they have won fewer than half of those games, with 10 victories and 11 draws.
Their overall home record in AFCON qualifiers stands at 44 matches, with 23 wins, 17 draws and four defeats.
Bafana’s other home defeats came against Zambia in 1992 (0-1), Ghana in 2005 (0-2) and Zambia again in 2007 (1-3).
Their most recent qualifying campaign, for the 2025 finals, was their strongest in terms of wins and goals scored in a six-game group, as they won four and drew two, netting 16 goals and conceding five.
It was the fifth time they had gone through a qualifying campaign unbeaten, following their achievements in the preliminaries for the 2002, 2004, 2015 and 2019 finals.
Bafana have never met Group D rivals Guinea, Kenya or Eritrea in AFCON qualifiers. Their most frequent opponents have been Congo, whom they have faced eight times, winning three and drawing five.
Their overall qualifying record stands at 87 matches, with 40 wins, 30 draws and 17 defeats. They have scored 123 goals and conceded 75.
Percy Tau and Sibusiso Zuma share the record for the most goals scored by South Africa in AFCON qualifiers, with eight each. Teboho Mokoena is the player in the current squad with the most qualifying goals, having scored four.
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Including both qualifiers and finals, Benni McCarthy leads the way with 13 goals, comprising six in qualifying and seven at the finals.
South Africa’s biggest qualifying victory was a 6-0 win over Seychelles in Johannesburg in 2018, while their heaviest defeats by margin were 1-4 against Zimbabwe in 1992, 0-3 against Zambia in 1993 and 0-3 against Ghana in 2004.
South Africa’s longest unbeaten sequence in qualifiers alone was 13 consecutive matches from June 1999 to June 2004. It began with a 2-0 victory over Mauritius and ended with a 3-0 defeat to Ghana in Kumasi.
Bafana are currently on a nine-game unbeaten run in AFCON qualifiers.
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