By Boluwatife Kehinde
FIFA has taken significant disciplinary action against the South African Football Association (SAFA) due to a critical oversight involving midfielder Teboho Mokoena during a World Cup qualifier match against Lesotho.
The incident occurred on March 21, 2025, as part of the preliminary rounds for the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Mokoena’s participation in the game was a breach of eligibility rules, triggering a series of sanctions as outlined by FIFA’s regulations.
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Specifically, the involvement of Mokoena in the match was found to violate Article 19 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code, which governs player eligibility, as well as Article 14 of the regulations set for the preliminary competitions of the 2026 World Cup.
This means that the decision to field Mokoena was not only a misjudgment but a direct infringement of FIFA’s established rules meant to ensure fairness in competition.
In response to this violation, FIFA has mandated that South Africa forfeit the match, which now officially stands with a scoreline of 3-0 in favour of Lesotho.
Furthermore, SAFA has been fined 10,000 Swiss francs, translating to approximately £9,000, as a financial repercussion for their oversight.
Mokoena, has been issued a formal warning regarding his ineligibility.
On Monday, FIFA released an official statement to confirm the sanctions and communicate them to all relevant parties involved.
The statement read: “The parties were notified of the terms of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee’s decision today.” It emphasised that according to the applicable provisions of the Disciplinary Code, those affected have a window of ten days to request a reasoned explanation of the decision.
READ ALSO: NFF denies claims of FIFA clearing South Africa in Mokoena eligibility dispute
“If such a request is submitted, FIFA indicated that the detailed reasoning would subsequently be made available on their legal website, legal.fifa.com. Additionally, it was noted that the forfeiture decision can be appealed before the FIFA Appeal Committee, allowing SAFA the opportunity to contest the ruling if deemed necessary.
