Bafana To Face Ghana In An AFCON Send-Off
Bafana Bafana will face Ghana in a friendly match in Gauteng before departing for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Morocco later this month.
The South African Football Association (SAFA) confirmed the match on Tuesday next week against the Black Stars, who, like Bafana Bafana, have qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
However, Otto Addo’s side did not qualify for AFCON, making it difficult to predict what type of Ghana squad will be assembled for the fixture, as they are not preparing for the continental tournament.
European-based players such as Alexander Djiku, Mohammed Salisu, Jordan Ayew and Mohammed Kudus are unlikely to feature since the Black Stars do not have an active camp and will not participate in AFCON.
As a result, the Ghana squad is expected to consist mainly of locally based players from the Ghana Premier League.
“Bafana Bafana will face Ghana next week in their final match in South Africa ahead of their departure to this month’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Morocco,” SAFA said in a statement.
“Coach Hugo Broos’ charges will host the West Africans in Gauteng on Tuesday, 16 December 2025, at a venue that will be announced in the coming days.
“The team will then depart for Morocco the following day ahead of their participation in the AFCON tournament, to be held from 21 December 2025 to January 2026. The stage is set for 24 African teams to battle it out across nine venues in Morocco, with Côte d’Ivoire entering the competition as defending champions.
“Bafana Bafana are in Group B and will face Egypt, Angola and Zimbabwe. The South Africans will open their campaign against Angola on 22 December 2025.”
This will be the first meeting between Bafana Bafana and Ghana since their controversial 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying clash in November 2021, where Ghana was awarded a disputed penalty that helped them reach the World Cup playoffs.
The decision left many Bafana Bafana players in tears, as the penalty was considered soft.
Ghana went on to win the playoff against Nigeria on the away-goals rule to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
