Bafana unable to train at stadium ahead of Benin qualifier

Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos is angry his charges were not able to train at the match-day venue on Monday, as per Fifa rules, before Tuesday’s crucial 2026 World Cup qualifier against Benin in Abidjan, Ivory Coast (6pm SA time). 

The reason is the Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny hosts another World Cup qualifier between Ivory Coast and Gambia on Monday night, meaning Bafana and Benin could not train there on Monday. 

SA top group C with 10 points and will hope for a win against second-placed Benin (eight points) to preserve that status, while Broos’ team will also be conscious of Nigeria lurking in fourth place with six points.

“I have to tell you I’m not satisfied with the decision that we can’t have a prematch training in the stadium where the game takes place,” Broos said via a SA Football Association press release on Monday.

“This is a Fifa rule that every team has the right to have a preliminary training of 60 minutes in the stadium where you play [on the day] before the game.

“I understand it because there is another game, but this is bad when people who make the rules don’t follow the rules.

“Will that have an influence on the game? I don’t know. But I know if tomorrow [Tuesday] after the game I’m not at the press conference, there will be a sanction. So we have to follow the rules. 

“Where are the rules now? And you will tell me, ‘yes, that’s for both teams’. I don’t think so. I think Benin has already trained in that stadium because they were here before us.

“So it’s all nice to say, ‘follow the rules, follow this’. We have to follow everything but we have the right to train today [Monday] in the stadium where the match takes place and we can’t. This is not honest and this is not correct.”