South Africa to play one last match before 2025 AFCON – Hugo Broos

The head coach of South Africa, Hugo Broos, has indicated that his Bafana Bafana side will play just one more friendly match before heading to Morocco for the 2025 CAF TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

Speaking after South Africa defeated Zambia 3-1 in their November international break friendly, Broos argued that, having played a lot of African countries this year, it is of no use to play many friendlies before the AFCON.

“No, we will play one game. “I don’t like to play two or three games before we go. We played enough games against African teams, so we don’t have to play against another African team, because [like] we don’t know African football,” he said in the post-match press conference.

He added, “We played the last four years, almost exclusively against African teams. So we don’t have to play another two or three games before we go to AFCON, we don’t need that.

“It will be a little bit different when we play next year’s World Cup. That is something else, and the preparation will be different also.

“But now we just try to have a good preparation and that the team is really at 100% when they start, and that we don’t start like we started the last AFCON with a defeat. I want to win that first game.”

At the 2025 AFCON, South Africa are in Group B alongside Angola, Egypt and Zimbabwe.

The upcoming AFCON is scheduled to kick off in Morocco on December 21.