2026 WCQ: Why South Africa could escape FIFA’s points deduction – Lawyer, Tshabalala
Sports lawyer, Mandla Tshabalala, has said South Africa might have escaped sanctions from FIFA.
The world football governing body did not include Bafana Bafana in their recent 2026 World Cup qualifiers disciplinary and ethics report.
South Africa had fielded Teboho Mokoena against Lesotho in March, despite the midfielder being ineligible to play.
On Friday, FIFA published a disciplinary overview report, covering 41 matches from July 1, 2024 to June 2025.
But it didn’t include Bafana’s game against Lesotho.
“We can safely say Bafana are safe because their matter would have fallen under a protest, meaning someone needed to protest the fielding of ineligible players, and they didn’t protest,” Tshabalala told Sowetan.
“There’s a high possibility that FIFA isn’t even considering the matter at all because no one followed proper processes of lodging a complaint.
“The Bafana game was in March and all the investigations were the complaints up until June 2005.
“So, Bafana should have been included in the report, if FIFA wanted to sanction them. I really believe we are off the hook.”
2026 WCQ: Why South Africa could escape FIFA’s points deduction – Lawyer, Tshabalala
