The year 2025 will go down as one of the most memorable in the sporting front.
SA teams flew the Mzansi flag high while individual sportsmen and women showed the world how competitive they can get when it mattered most.
Bafana Bafana were probably the best South African national team this year, as they continued their impressive run under coach Hugo Broos.
Bafana did not qualify for one, but two major competitions in the same year – first the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon), which kicks off next Sunday, and the 2026 Fifa World Cup since 2002.
Bafana will kick off their Afcon campaign against Angola next Monday.
Bafana almost missed out on the 2026 Fifa World Cup after they were docked three points by Fifa for fielding ineligible Teboho Mokoena in the 2-0 win over Lesotho in March.
Team manager Vincent Tseka was accused of sleeping on the job and not tallying up the yellow cards. Tseka claims that he missed the yellow card because he left the stadium earlier to buy ice for the team.
Mzansi supporters were left fuming and Bafana needed to beat Rwanda on the last day of the qualifiers. Even today, fans still want Tseka axed, but it is all water under the bridge and he is gearing up for the World Cup gravy train.
The Springboks raised the bar in world rugby and arguably had one of their best seasons ever when they displayed their continued dominance against their biggest rivals, setting the standard even higher than before. Coach Rassie Erasmus’ troops maintained their coveted position as the top-ranked team in the world.
The reigning World Rugby champions defended the Castle Lager Rugby Championship, the Freedom Cup, and the Nelson Mandela Challenge Plate.
The Boks could not have asked for a better ending to their 2025 season when they demolished Wales 73-0 in Cardiff.
Mzansi’s top sprinters took two golds and a bronze at World Athletics Relays in Guangzhou, China, in May.
It was an amazing performance for the South Africans as the men’s 4x100m and 4x400m quartets took gold.
The girls’ relay team also stole the show when they romped home in third position.
In the men’s 4x100m relay final, Akani Simbine and his colleagues — Bayanda Walaza, Sinesipho Dambile, and Bradley Nkoana competed against strong Americans, Canadians, and Japanese. But they won the race with a season best 37.61 seconds. Team SA won by 0.05 seconds.
Less than two hours after their exploits, another SA relay team comprising Gaerdeo Isaac, Udeme Okon, Leendert Koekemoer, and Zakithi Nene produced an incredible performance that saw them smash the SA record and winning themselves a gold medal at the same time in the 4x400m.
The girls were not to be outdone, they clinched a bronze medal after Shirley Nekhubui, Miranda Coetzee, Precious Molepo, and Zeney Geldenhuran a national record time of 3:24.84, finishing behind the USA and winners Spain.
He may have left the club in a controversial and messy way but Brazil-born former Mamelodi Sundowns star Lucas Costa Ribeiro was unstoppable. He was a marvel to watch in the Premier Soccer League (PSL) as he tore into all the clubs as if they were ragged dolls.
He won the Betway Premiership Top Goalscorer, PSL Footballer of the Season, the Betway Premiership Players’ Player of the Season, and the Betway Premiership Goal of the Season.
He was also a marvel to watch at the Fifa Club World Cup in the US, where he scored the goal of the tournament against Borussia Dortmund.
It may have not been their maiden seasons but 2025 was definitely a breakthrough year for Orlando Pirates’ muscular defender Mbekezeli Mbokazi and Springboks’ Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
The Boks star broke the record of most points in a game, most tries by a Bok flyhalf, winning the SA Rugby Magazine Players’ Player of the Year and Vodacom URC Player of the Season, earning a spot in the World Rugby Dream Team, and leading the Boks to a Rugby Championship title with a standout performance against Argentina.
At the tender age of 20, Mbokazi became one of the youngest players to have captained Bucs. He has also cemented his spot at centre-back for Bafana. At the PSL Awards, he won the Nedbank Cup Most Promising Player of the Tournament and was nominated in various categories.
