Bafana Bafana have met European sides on 44 previous occasions. SoccerClub Editor Nick Said delves into their record against teams from the continent.
When Bafana Bafana were held to a frustrating 1–1 draw with tiny Andorra in March, it was the first time they had come up against a new opponent from Europe in almost 14 years.
The scheduling of the Nations League and the fact that Bafana are not as attractive an opponent as they were in their glory days means that meetings with European opposition these days are disappointingly rare.
There is no doubt that if Bafana were qualifying for World Cups regularly, the situation would be different, but the view from the outside is that there are other more interesting African nations to test yourself against than the current South Africa side.
This perception would not have been changed by their clash with then world champions France in March 2022 – Bafana were hammered 5–0 on a day when it could easily have been double that number. They are hardly the kind of opponents top teams are looking for. Indeed, Bafana have found the going tough against European sides in the past, but to be fair went through a spell in the late 1990s and early 2000s where they played top teams with some regularity.
Germany, England, the Netherlands, France, Italy and Spain had their turn facing South Africa at least once in that period. The South African Football Association yearn for a line-up like that again over a three- or four-year period.
Bafana’s first-ever match contested against European opposition was a friendly game against Germany in December 1995 – a match played at the unglamorous Johannesburg Stadium.
Germany brought a decent side that included Stefan Reuter, Andreas Möller, Jürgen Klinsmann and Fredi Bobic under coach Berti Vogts. The game finished 0–0.
It would be another two years, and after their triumph at the 1996 African Cup of Nations, before Bafana would take on European opponents again, but then the games came in a rush.
In 1997, they played Germany again, England, the Netherlands, France and the Czech Republic, as their status as African champions and qualifiers for the 1998 FIFA World Cup helped elevate the profile of the team.
But it was not until they faced Sweden in the 1999 Nelson Mandela Challenge that they registered a first victory against European opponents after Siyabonga Nomvethe scored an 88th-minute winner at Loftus Versfeld Stadium.
To be fair to the Swedes, the timing of the match meant they were forced to select a home-based team, as their players were scattered across the leagues of Europe and unavailable.
But it was largely the same for Bafana, who were without some of their leading stars too.
South Africa have played European teams on 44 occasions and won 10 games, with eight draws and 26 losses. They have never beaten a European team more than once, but there have been some notable scalps – France at the 2010 World Cup and then world champions Spain in a friendly in 2013.
It was a pretty handy Spanish side, too.
Other victories have come against Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Malta, Scotland, Turkey, Slovenia and Poland.
The Slovenian success in 2002, also thanks to a Nomvethe goal, was Bafana’s first victory at a World Cup. Their least favourite opponents have been Spain and Germany, who have beaten Bafana three times each, while England, France, Iceland, the Republic of Ireland, Italy and Norway have also all had multiple wins.
The European team Bafana have met the most is France, who they have played five times. They have achieved one win, a draw and three defeats. In all, Bafana have scored 34 goals against European opponents and conceded 69.
Matches against Spain have been the most exciting. Apart from that famous win in 2013, they have also lost 3–2 twice in cracking clashes – at the 2002 World Cup and the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup.
Bafana have now played against 22 European nations. The last time they met new opponents before their game with Andorra was in a clash with Bulgaria at a 2010 World Cup warm- up match.
Bafana Bafana vs European opponents:
