Bafana Bafana were drawn in Group E at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations finals (AFCON), alongside Tunisia, Mali, and neighbours Namibia.
The draw took place in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on Thursday night, where CAF also PUMA as their new sponsor.
Former and current African football stars Didier Drogba of Ivory Coast, Mikel Obi, a former Nigeria international, Sadio Mane, Senegal captain, and Morocco’s Ashraf Hakimi assisted with the draw.
Bafana’s last AFCON appearance came in 2019 in Egypt, where Nigeria eliminated them in the quarter-finals.
SA will head into the 34th edition of AFCON with confidence as they are on a nine-match unbeaten run, and their head coach, Hugo Broos, knows all about winning Africa’s showpiece, having clinched it with Cameroon in 2017.
The 2023 AFCON tournament will start on January 13 and finish on February 11, with 24 teams battling out to be crowned champions in Ivory Coast, Namibia are pitted against Bafana for the third time in an AFCON tournament.
BAFANA BAFANA FACE TOUGH DRAW IN 2023 AFCON
And as they prepare for AFCON, Broos and his men will tackle Benin and Rwanda in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in November.
However, before that, the 199 AFCON champions, Bafana, will host Eswatini at the FNB Stadium on Friday and play Ivory Coast away from home on Tuesday.
OTHER SOCCER NEWS:Sundowns and Pirates stars headline Bafana squad
The two games are Bafana’s last international friendlies in 2023. AFCON GROUPS: Group A: Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea Bissau Group B: Egypt, Ghana, Cape Verde Islands, Mozambique Group C: Senegal, Cameroon, Guinea, Gambia Group D: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Angola Group E: Tunisia, Mali, South Africa, Namibia Group F: Morocco, DR Congo, Zambia, Tanzania Meanwhile, CAF penned a deal with PUMA, who are now the African football governing body’s official technical partner.
PUMA will become the official match ball supplier and referee kit provider for CAF tournaments starting on the first of November. The partnership will also include various marketing opportunities inside and outside the stadium.