As it happened to the Super Eagles on the road to the Russia 2018 World Cup, South Africa may suffer match forfeiture for fielding an ineligible player in their last 2026 World Cup qualifying match last week against Lesotho.
South Africa won the match 2-0, but the Group C leaders may forfeit the match for fielding a player who had been cautioned twice before the match.
The player in question is Teboho Mokoena who was issued a yellow card in South Africa’s opening match with Benin in November 2023 and then in the match day 4 encounter with Zimbabwe last year June.
In the match against the Benin Republic on 18 November 2023, Teboho Mokoena was given a yellow card by Sudanese referee, Mahmood Ismail in the 54th minute. Again in the match with Zimbabwe Mokoena also got cautioned by Egyptian referee Mohamed Maarouf Eid Mansour in the 52nd minute.
The player was fielded last week in the 2-0 defeat of Lesotho. South Africa currently leads Group C with 10 points. Should the match be ruled as forfeiture, South Africa’s total will drop to seven while fifth-placed Lesotho, currently with five points will rise to eight points.
It was in similar circumstances that Nigeria fielded an ineligible Shehu Abdullahi against Algeria on 10 November 2017.
The match ended in a 1-1 draw but was overturned by FIFA and Algeria was awarded a 3-0 win.
Nigeria’s Abdullahi Shehu played in this game even though he should have been suspended for picking up yellow cards in two previous qualifiers.
The defender was cautioned in the Super Eagles 1-0 win over Zambia in October that sealed Nigeria’s spot in Russia, having been shown a yellow card in the first leg of their second-round tie against Swaziland in November 2015. The Nigeria Football Federation was also fined $10,000 for the oversight
