By McGeorge Mbare
South Africa’s Bafana Bafana are at risk of losing 3 points after they fielded an ineligible player, Tebogo Mokwena in their 2-0 victory against Lesotho last week in their match day 5 of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
South Africa ‘s Mokwena had accumulated 2 yellow cards in previous encounters against Benin and Zimbabwe hence according to FIFA regulations, in section 63. 1 Tebogo was automatically suspended to play against Lesotho however South Africa fielded him.
“If a person receives cautions in two separate matches of the same FIFA competition, he is automatically suspended from the next match. Such suspensions served before an other suspicion…,” FIFA regulation, Section 63.1 states.
In line with section 19, which states “if a player fielded in match is declared ineligible following a protest, the team to which the player belongs to will be sanctioned by forteiting match and pay a minimum fine of CHF 6, 000 and the player may also be sanctioned,” South Africa is likely to be in hot soup..
However, according to Section 8.3, the affected party, Lesotho, should have filed a complaint within two hours of the match, followed by a full written report that should have been submitted within 24 hours of that match day, which Lesotho failed to do on time.
Nigeria and Lesotho have already voiced their concerns it remains to be seen if FIFA will sanction South Africa. Bafana Bafana are currently on top of group C with 13,however if Lesotho wins the case, South Africa will lose 3 points leaving the qualifications race open for every team.