24 March 2025 – Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has been left frustrated after it emerged that his charges will not be able to train at the Stade Félix Houphouët Boigny in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, a day before they face Benin in a crunch 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifier on Tuesday.
Benin will host the South African senior men’s national team in Côte d’Ivoire after their home grounds were deemed to be unsuitable for international matches. But this arrangement has been complicated by the fact that Côte d’Ivoire host the Gambia at the same Stade Félix Houphouët Boigny tonight (Monday, 24 March 2025), and this means both Bafana Bafana and Benin cannot access the venue a day before their own match.
Broos is understandably upset as the visiting team is entitled to a training session of up to one hour on the pitch where the match is to take place, on the day before the match.
“First of all, I have to tell you that I’m really not satisfied with the decision that we can’t have a pre-match training in the stadium where the game takes place. I think this is a FIFA rule, that every team has the right to have a preliminary training before the game of 60 minutes in the stadium where you play, where the match takes place,” Broos said.
“I don’t understand. I understand it because there is another game. But this is bad when people who make the rules don’t follow the rules. Will that have an influence on the game? I don’t know. But I know if tomorrow after the game I’m not at the press conference, there will be a sanction. So we have to follow the rules. Where are the rules now? And you will tell me, yes, that’s for both teams. I don’t think so. I think Berlin has already trained in that stadium because they were here before us.
“So it’s all nice to say, follow the rules, follow this. We have to follow everything. But we have the right to train today in the stadium where the match takes place, and we can’t. And this is not honest and this is not correct.”
Bafana Bafana captain Ronwen Williams said the team was happy to be back in Côte d’Ivoire after winning the Africa Cup of Nations bronze medal in the country in February last year. The South African senior men’s national team won the bronze medals after beating DR Congo 6-5 on penalties in the AFCON third-place play-off.
“It’s going to be a tough one. Benin is a very good team, but we believe in our qualities, we believe in what we’ve been building over the last year. So we’re looking forward to the game. It’s going to be a tough one, a lot of challenges, but I think this team is strong enough to overcome all those challenges,” he said.
“It’s going to be a tough one, but we’re excited and we’re looking forward to it. We know how important and vital this game is for the group. We know that we can open up a gap and we know that a gap can be closed as well. So this is a big, big, big game in these qualifying rounds. It’s obviously the halfway mark now and after tomorrow you’ll have an idea as to who the favourites are in the group. So we want to be there and we want to stay on top of the group.”
Bafana Bafana will have their first training session in Côte d’Ivoire this afternoon.
