Bafana Bafana Fixtures: AFCON 2027 Qualifiers, and Our Prediction for South Africa vs Guinea

Bafana Bafana’s next fixture is South Africa v Guinea at Orlando Stadium in Soweto on Saturday 26 September 2026, kick-off 15:00 SAST. It opens Group D of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and it is Pitso Mosimane’s first competitive match in charge. Four days later South Africa play Eritrea at Al-Salam Stadium in Cairo, on Wednesday 30 September at 18:00 SAST. Our pick for the Guinea match is a South Africa win at 58% confidence, which sits in our good band, not our strong one.

Every confirmed Bafana Bafana fixture

These are the fixtures published by the South African Football Association, checked on 22 September 2026. Venues and kick-off times for the November and March matches are still to be confirmed.

The Eritrea fixture is listed as an away match but is being played in Cairo, which is standard practice for Eritrea’s home qualifiers. South Africa then stay in Egypt for the friendly on 4 October, so this is a three-match trip built around one home game.

Group D, and the qualification maths nobody explains

Group D contains South Africa, Guinea, Kenya and Eritrea. Kenya are co-hosts of the 2027 tournament and are already qualified, which changes what the group is actually for. The practical effect is that South Africa and Guinea are competing for one place, with Eritrea as the group’s outsider and Kenya’s results a complication rather than a contest.

Matchday 1 is completed by Kenya v Eritrea on the same Saturday. Guinea host Kenya on 1 October at the 28 September Stadium in Conakry, recently approved by CAF for international fixtures again.

Mosimane’s first competitive test

SAFA confirmed Pitso Mosimane as head coach at the start of September 2026, replacing Hugo Broos, who left after the World Cup. Mosimane named a preliminary squad on 4 September and cut it to a final 30 on 17 September.

The squad leans heavily on the group that reached the second round of the 2026 World Cup. Ronwen Williams stays in goal, Teboho Mokoena anchors the midfield, and the forward options include Cassius Mailula and Yanela Mbuthuma. The notable omission is Lyle Foster. Mosimane explained it in plain terms, saying he had spoken to the player personally, that Foster had not been playing, was not on the team sheet, had managed only a few minutes here and there, and had moved club. Five further players were unavailable through injury.

A new coach in his first competitive fixture is a genuine modelling problem, and we would rather say so than pretend otherwise. We have no graded picks under Mosimane. Everything we know about how this side sets up comes from a different manager.

What Guinea bring to Soweto

Guinea, coached by Paulo Duarte, named a 25-man squad for the South Africa and Kenya fixtures: three goalkeepers, ten defenders, five midfielders and seven forwards.

The name that matters is Serhou Guirassy. He has started the season at Borussia Dortmund with four goals and two assists in his first five matches, and he is the single biggest reason this fixture is not a comfortable home banker. Around him, Seydouba Cisse and Moriba Kourouma give Guinea a midfield that can hold the ball in a hostile stadium, and Lamine Diaby-Fadiga and Yadaly Diaby give Duarte options to change the shape of the game late.

A Guinea side with a striker in that form, away from home, against a team under a brand new coach, is exactly the shape of fixture that produces the result nobody priced.

Our pick, and the honest confidence behind it

We are on South Africa to win at 58%. That is a good pick on our scale, not a strong one, and the difference is not decoration. Here is what our published record says those bands are actually worth.

So a 58% pick from us has historically landed about two times in three. That is a real edge and it is not a certainty, and the gap between those two sentences is where most tipster sites go quiet.

Where our record is strong, and where it is not

If you are deciding how much weight to give any source on an African qualifier, look at the competition split before you look at the headline number.

Our best work is in competitions where the gap between the two sides is wide and stable. Our worst is in leagues where anyone can beat anyone, which is exactly what the Betway Premiership and Premier League rows are telling us, and exactly the risk profile of an AFCON qualifier. Treat the 58% as a real number with a wide error bar around it.

How to watch

SAFA has previously granted AFCON qualifier broadcast rights to the SABC, which carried past matches on SABC 3, SABC+ and SABCSport.com. The broadcaster for this fixture had not been publicly confirmed as of 22 September 2026, so check SABC Sport listings closer to kick-off rather than trusting a schedule published in advance. Tickets for Orlando Stadium are R100 for adults and R40 for under-12s through TicketPro.

Written by Carlson Dze Meh. Fixture details verified against SAFA and CAF listings on 22 September 2026. Record figures are our own published graded record, current to 21 September 2026.