The South African Football Association (SAFA) is set to establish a three-member emergency committee in order to deal with Bafana Bafana‘s administrative issues at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The decision comes after the senior men’s national team’s travel plans were thrown into turmoil with players not issued visas.
This called for the attention of the Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture, Gayton McKenzie to step in and call SAFA to order, terming the travel and visa debacle “embarrassing & grossly unfair towards the players & coaching staff” and that “We are being made to look like fools.”
While the visa issues has since been resolved, the team will only fly out to Mexico this evening.
The governing body confirmed via a brief statement on Monday morning that the committee will be established to eliminate further errors on the administrative side.
“SAFA held an Emergency Committee Meeting on Sunday night, 31 May 2026 where a number of issues around the South African senior men’s national team’s delayed travel plans to Mexico were discussed by the members. It was revealed in the meeting that the only outstanding visas are for four members of the camp, however SAFA is working closely with the relevant authorities to ensure that they also board the flight to North America.
“SAFA can further reveal that a three-member organising committee has been established to manage the team’s administrative affairs during the 2026 FIFA World Cup…
“The three will work together in ensuring that any logistical or administrative matters that may arise during the global tournament are dealt with expeditiously…SAFA is satisfied that the matter has now been substantially resolved and that the team’s World Cup plans remain firmly on course.
“SAFA apologises to the nation for these unexpected travel delays and would like to thank the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) for their assistance, as well as the US Consulate in Johannesburg who went beyond their call of duty over the weekend to ensure that the visas were issued for all our players to travel,” the statement read.
While Bafana are yet to win any of their World Cup warm-up matches, their opponents have all picked up wins.
Mexico beat Australia 1-0, Serbia narrowly saw off Kosovo 2-1 while South Korea hammered Trinidad and Tobago 5-0.
Hugo Broos’ charges will play one more practice match against Jamaica before next Thursday’s big test against the world cup co-hosts.
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