At the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations. Hugo Broos and Bafana Bafana are aiming to improve on the bronze medal finish they managed at the 2023 edition. (Photo: Visionhaus / Getty Images) 
The more successful you are, the higher the expectations are for more success in future. That is where the Hugo Broos-coached Bafana Bafana team find themselves ahead of their 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) campaign.
The South Africans are in Group B of the 24-team continental soccer spectacle. Bafana Bafana open their campaign against Angola, on Monday, 22 December, at 7pm South African time. This fixture will be extremely important for setting the tone for what many South Africans hope will be a highly successful tournament for the team.
It is doubly important, because after the Angolan encounter, Bafana Bafana will face off against record Afcon champions, Egypt, on 26 December. The Mohamed Salah-led outfit hold the record for the most Afcon titles, with seven, although their last overall success came as far back as 2010.
Despite this drought, the Egyptians are favourites to finish at the summit of Group B. Which means Bafana Bafana’s results against Angola and Zimbabwe (the other team in the group) will be crucial for their ambitions of qualifying for the round of 16.
Of course, after their performance at the 2023 Afcon (where they finished third overall), reaching the final 16 is the minimum target for Broos and his troops.
/file/attachments/orphans/TL_2498866_518050.jpg "Attacker Oswin Appollis (right) will be one of the key players for Bafana Bafana at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco. (Photo: Daniel Hlongwane / Gallo Images)")
Major backing and belief
This time there is genuine belief from both within the team and beyond that they can navigate all the way to the final in the Morocco-hosted tournament, which runs from 21 December 2025 to 18 January. The confidence in the current team comes especially from the generation of players who won South Africa its first Afcon crown in 1996 on home soil.
“How wonderful would it be if, between now and January 2026, we celebrate the 30 years of our last achievement as the class of 1996 with another winner’s cup and gold medal? That would be fantastic.”
“They made me want to support the national team. Not to say that I haven’t supported them in the past, but I look at the brand of football that these guys are playing, it is reminiscent of what we did in 1996,” former Bafana goalkeeper Andre Arendse said at an event organised by the team’s sponsor Castle Lager.
“The fact that they have spent so much time together, over various camps, has seen them grow closer. If you ask me what the dream is… How wonderful would it be if, between now and January 2026, we celebrate the 30 years of our last achievement as the class of 1996 with another winner’s cup and gold medal? That would be fantastic,” Arendse added.
“I’m looking forward to being a supporter in terms of seeing what these guys can do on the biggest stage of the continent. I’m excited and can’t wait to see these guys play. I’m looking forward to being a supporter in terms of seeing what they can do on the biggest stage of the continent,” the former glovesman said.
“I know that they are in a better space. You don’t get to be on the podium of the Afcon by chance,” he added.
/file/attachments/orphans/20251211_144822_352803.jpg "Andre Arendse (right) and Shaun Bartlett, who were part of Bafana Bafana’s 1996 Africa Cup of Nations triumph, believe the team can lift the trophy once again in Morocco. (Photo: Yanga Sibembe)")
Bafana Bafana reached the Afcon podium for the first time in over two decades in 2024 (the 2023 Afcon was postponed to that year), when they finished third behind winners Ivory Coast and silver medallists Nigeria.
While that bronze finish came as a surprise to many, including a number of South Africans, there is now a widespread wariness when it comes to Broos and his men. It is something the team is aware of. But it is something they are using as fuel for success, as opposed to carrying it as a burden.
The load has been made lighter not only by the third-place finish in the previous edition, but also by the fact that Broos knows how to win an Afcon title. He did this in 2017 with Cameroon.
Broos aims high
In spite of this major milestone with the Indomitable Lions, the Belgian tactician rates his tenure of nearly five years in South Africa higher than his achievements with Cameroon. Guiding Bafana Bafana to just their second Afcon triumph would add further glitter to the 73-year-old’s time in South Africa.
/file/attachments/orphans/TL_2376021_475299.jpg "Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos has made his intentions for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations clear. He wants to win the tournament to add gloss to his time in South Africa. (Photo: Philip Maeta / Gallo Images)")
“I am happier with the work I have done here [South Africa] than with the work I did with Cameroon,” Broos said. “With Cameroon, success at Afcon is expected. But I don’t think anyone, even myself, expected two years ago that we [Bafana Bafana] would reach the semifinals of Afcon.”
“So yes, it’s been a great campaign [in South Africa]. And it’s still not finished, not at all. We’ll see what happens in a few weeks [Afcon],” the Belgian added.
When Bafana Bafana meet the Angolans in Marrakesh on Monday evening, it will be the fifth time the two teams have tussled in the Afcon.
Their previous four meetings favour Bafana. The South Africans boast two wins, while the other two contests have ended in stalemates. All have come in the group phase. DM