Williams confident of Bafana’s World Cup group chances

Bafana Bafana captain, Ronwen Williams, believes that South Africa have a strong chance of advancing from their group at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Bafana were drawn in Group A during Friday’s draw in Washington, where they will face Mexico, South Korea and one of four European nations. Denmark, North Macedonia, the Czech Republic and Ireland will compete in a play-off in March to determine who joins the group.

“It is a replay of the 2010 opening game. Bafana and Mexico drew 1-1 in the opening match of the 2010 Fifa World Cup at FNB Stadium,” said Williams.

“It will be nice to play the host nation even though the whole nation will be behind them.”

Williams also acknowledged the threat posed by South Korea.

“South Korea have some of the players we played at the Club World Cup,” added Williams.

Despite the challenges, the Bafana captain is confident the team can progress to the knockout rounds.

“You can never say where you will get the points. Every game will have its challenges. But we will go out believing we can get a result. We don’t want to be there to add numbers. We want to see how far we have come as a country.”

Williams said he trusts the squad’s abilities.

“That is not to put pressure on us, it is the first time in a long time that we have been at this prestige tournament. But we believe we are capable of getting out of the group.”

FIFA unveiled the 2026 World Cup match schedule at an event held in Washington DC, USA, on Saturday. Legends Ronaldo, Totti, Stoichkov and Lalas among others, were on hand to help reveal the schedule. Bafana Bafana’s group schedule is below:#BafanaPride@10bet_ZA @SABC_Sport pic.twitter.com/F5wfrD2vPq

— Bafana Bafana (@BafanaBafana) December 6, 2025

Written by: Ntsako Mukhari