The World Cup delegation was stranded as they waited for visas to travel to Mexico, where South Africa will play in their opening match 11 days later.
Published May 31, 2026
The South African Football Association (SAFA) has announced that the South African national team’s departure for the FIFA World Cup has been delayed due to visa hold-ups in Mexico, where they will play in the tournament’s opening match 11 days later.
Bafana Bafana, known as South Africa’s national men’s soccer team, was scheduled to depart on a chartered flight from Johannesburg to Mexico City on Sunday morning, but remained grounded due to delays in visas for some team members to the co-hosting country.
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“The South African Senior Men’s National Team is facing visa issues for some of its players and officials, as a result of which the team was unable to travel to North America this morning as originally planned,” SAFA said in a media release.
Mexico will host South Africa in their World Cup opener on June 11 at the Estadio Azteca.
“SAFA is working around the clock to ensure that teams can travel to Mexico City as soon as possible ahead of the opening match.”
“We remain committed to ensuring the team’s preparations for the tournament are on track and in the meantime, Bafana Bafana will continue to train in Johannesburg until departure.”
The team was given a grand send-off in Johannesburg on Saturday ahead of their first appearance since the tournament was held in 2010, but their flight from OR Tambo Airport to Mexico City was postponed.
SAFA said it had convened an emergency committee late on Sunday to discuss the matter, after Sport Minister Gayton McKenzie loudly condemned it as “embarrassing and grossly unfair”.
“We are being made fun of,” McKenzie said on social media platform X.
South Africa will prepare for the World Cup with a friendly against Jamaica on June 5th. After playing the co-hosts in their first group match, they will face the Czech Republic on June 18th and South Korea on June 24th.
Manager Hugo Blues announced his 26-man squad on Wednesday, including two uncapped players.
Amid speculation about visa issues, some social media users questioned why the team held a parade in Johannesburg before departing when team officials knew the players had not yet been issued visas.
South Africa is not the first team to face visa-related logistical problems at the World Cup.
Members of Iran’s World Cup squad have not been issued visas to travel to the United States, and they will play their opening game against New Zealand on June 15, followed by two other group games.
According to reports in Iranian state media on Saturday, FIFA informed Mahdi Mohammadnabi, vice president of the Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Iran (FFIRI), that paperwork is underway and a visa is expected to be issued this week.
FFIRI President Mehdi Taj said on Wednesday that he expects the United States to issue multiple entry visas to the World Cup delegation as they travel domestically and internationally for matches.
Iran moved its team’s base camp from Arizona in the United States to Mexico last week.
