Bafana Bafana captain Ronwen Williams has expressed his views after their 2026 Fifa World Cup opponents were revealed on Friday night. Bafana were drawn in Group A with co-hosts Mexico, South Korea and the winners of the Uefa play-offs between North Macedonia, Ireland, Czech Republic and Denmark.
The red carpet, glitzy event took place at the John F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts in Washington DC on Friday night. The World Cup will be co-hosted by the USA, Mexico and Canada. South Africa will face Mexico in the opening ceremony match on June 11. It will be a repeat of the 2010 tournament when Bafana opened the World Cup at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg. The match ended in a 1-1 draw.
“We are not going to the World Cup to make up the numbers. I believe that we can do wonders at the tournament. We know South Korea, they are familiar faces, some of us played against some of them at the Fifa Club World Cup in the US,” Williams said on Supersport after the draw was conducted.
“I think it’s a fair group, it’s a good group. We believe that we are capable of getting out of the group. We do not want to put too much pressure on ourselves considering that it has been a very long time without playing in this prestigious tournament,” added the Mamelodi Sundowns goalkeeper.
Bafana have improved tremendously in the last couple of years. They finished third in the last Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Ivory Coast in 2024. They also qualified for this year’s Afcon with games in hand and against all odds, they also booked their ticket for the World Cup even after Fifa docked three points after they fielded an ineligible player Teboho Mokoena. Bafana are now among favourites to win the coming Afcon which will take place in Morocco in three weeks’ time.
The occasion was hosted by Hollywood and TV celebrities Kevin Hart and supermodel Heidi Klum. USA president Donald Trump, his Mexican counterpart Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney were the VVIPs. World class musicians Robbie Williams and Lauren Hill were also part of the entertainment on the night while Tom Cruise, Shaquille O’Neal, and Rio Ferdinand conducted the draw.
The who’s who of global football also graced the event, with the coaches of all 48 participating countries eager to find out who they will be facing come June 2026. Legends of the game, past and present were keen spectators as the draw was being conducted.
