Bafana heading back to Abidjan

South Africa will be going back to the Ivory Coast later this month, just over a year after they finished third at the Africa Cup of Nations finals in the west African country.

It has been confirmed that Benin will host Bafana Bafana in their World Cup qualifier on March 25 at the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium in Abidjan, the iconic venue where South Africa edged the Democratic Republic of Congo on post-match penalties to take the bronze medals at the Cup of Nations.

It is also the stadium where Orlando Pirates won the country’s first continental club title, upsetting hosts ASEC Abidjan in the second leg of the 1995 African Champions Cup final.

Benin are forced to move the Group C qualifier because they do not have any stadia suitable to host international matches, according to the Confederation of African Football.

Benin renovated the 30 000-seat Stade de l'Amitié in 2021, and CAF chose the stadium for the Confederation Cup final between Algeria’s JS Kabylie and Raja Casablanca of Morocco in July 2021, but after two years, African football’s governing body found the pitch, the changing rooms, the quality of floodlighting, match security, the press cabin and first aid station needed upgrading. Work still has not been done to CAF’s satisfaction which Benin will now play a sixth successive ‘home’ game in neutral Ivory Coast.

Benin’s two home matches in the World Cup qualifiers in June 2024 were both played at the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium in Abidjan and they emerged victorious over Rwanda and Nigeria.

They also played their three Africa Cup of Nations home matches in the recent 2025 qualifying campaign at the iconic venue in the Ivorian capital, beating Libya and Rwanda and drawing with Nigeria as they qualified for the finals in Morocco.

Benin are among 18 African countries, who cannot play matches at home because they are not up to standard.

This list includes Zimbabwe, who Benin will meet on March 20. The game should be in Harare but is being played in Durban instead.