South Africa may lose World Cup tickets if using players illegally

South Africa is at risk of losing tickets to the 2026 World Cup due to illegal use of players.

In the World Cup qualifiers, South Africa is one of the hottest teams to win tickets to the World Cup. After 8 rounds of games, South Africa ranked first in the group with 17 points, leading Benin by 3 points and 6 points ahead of Nigeria and Rwanda. According to the rules of the tournament, only the first place in the group can automatically advance to the World Cup, so South Africa has a good chance of participating in the World Cup for the first time since 2010, when they were the hosts. But now their hopes are facing serious challenges.

According to The Athletic, in the 2-0 victory over Lesotho in March, South Africa sent a player who was not qualified to play. Midfielder Teboho Mocona received two yellow cards in the previous game and deserved a suspension, but was still on the team's roster. South African Football Association President Lydia Monyepao confirmed that he had received a notice from FIFA: "We are preparing to reply to the FIFA Discipline Committee, which is a mandatory requirement of the South African Football Association." If a violation is found, the South African team may be fined 0-3. FIFA's rules stipulate that if a team sends a player who is not qualified to play, the game will be sentenced to a 0-3 loss unless the actual results are more unfavorable to the violating party. If this happens, the qualifying situation in Group C will become more complicated. South Africa will lose its lead in points and be caught up by Benin. Rwanda and Nigeria are only 3 points away from the top. The competition for the top spot in the last two rounds will be very fierce. South Africa will play the World Cup qualifiers next month, and will be anxiously awaiting FIFA's handling results in the next few days.