The South African Football Association commented on FIFA’s decision to deduct three points from the Bafana Bafana national team in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

The match took place on March 21 within Group 3 and ended with a 2-0 win for South Africa, but was later awarded as a 3-0 victory to Lesotho.

In an official statement on Monday, the South African Football Association said: “We are deeply disappointed by this unprecedented decision, which was made by a single-member committee without reasons and without giving the association a chance to present legal arguments.”

The statement continued: “The association confirms it has requested written reasons for the ruling and intends to file a formal appeal to FIFA’s Appeal Committee within the ten-day deadline according to FIFA’s disciplinary rules.”

FIFA explained that South Africa fielded player Mokoena who was ineligible to play against Lesotho after receiving two previous yellow cards in the qualifiers, resulting in an automatic suspension. According to FIFA regulations, fielding an ineligible player leads to a direct 3-0 forfeit loss unless the actual match result was more damaging to the team.

Bafana Bafana had won the match 2-0 on the field, but the penalty changed the result in favor of Lesotho, dropping South Africa’s points to 14 with a +3 goal difference, behind Benin who leads the group with the same points but a +4 goal difference.

Nigeria is third with 11 points, ahead of Rwanda on goal difference, while Lesotho raised its tally to nine points from eight matches.