Bafana Bafana has maintained its 57th position in the latest FIFA Coca-Cola World Rankings released on Thursday.

This is unsurprising, as the national team did not participate in any international matches in December.

Consequently, South Africa has retained its 10th spot in the African rankings, a less-than-ideal position heading into the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations draw. CAF confirmed that this draw will take place on 27 January 2025 in Morocco, which will be hosting the tournament.

Bafana Bafana’s failure to secure a top-eight ranking means they will not be seeded in the draw. This could potentially lead to a challenging group stage, with the possibility of facing top-ranked African nations like Morocco, Senegal, Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Mali, and Tunisia.

In the delayed 2023 AFCON that was played in Ivory Coast this year, Bafana was paired with two top-rank sides – Mali, Tunisia as well as lower-ranked Namibia who was unseeded.  

Although they reached the knockout stages, they lost to Mali in their opening Group E match, before hammering Namibia and drawing Tunisia, which was enough to go through to the next phase. Bafana Bafana ended up claiming the bronze medal by finishing third, the first time they have done so since the 2000 edition.  

The next FIFA World Rankings will be published on 3 April 2025, reflecting the results of international matches scheduled for March 2025. It will be a resumption of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in CAF zone.