Soccer is among South Africa’s most popular sports and has fans all over the country. Aside from following Bafana Bafana’s results, people also keep an eye on the leading local leagues, as well as all top-tier international competitions.
Due to the sport’s popularity, it is no surprise that there have been many soccer controversies over the years. Some took place a long time ago but will go down in history, so it’s time to take a look at everything. Let’s go over all of the biggest soccer controversies in South Africa and see what happened.
The Match-Fixing Scandal Prior to the Africa Cup of Nations in 2013
2013 was an interesting year for South African football fans because they had the chance to host the Africa Cup of Nations. Just 3 years after the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the country welcomed another major soccer event. Originally, the competition should have occurred in Libya, but since there was a civil war, it was moved to SA.
Even though South Africa ended up hosting the event, it had its fair share of controversies. Perhaps the biggest one was the match-fixing scandal related to the South African Football Association. The scandal was so big that the federation’s president and people around him had to stand down.
Based on the evidence, these people were involved in rigging matches alongside Wilson Raj Perumal. Two particular games raised questions—the one against Guatemala and the match against Colombia in May 2010 (both of which were friendlies). According to the information, the players themselves were not involved in this activity. Instead, the people behind it manipulate the referees.
In the match against Guatemala, the referee ruled South Africa 3 suspicious penalties, and the same happened against Colombia. The interesting news is that the referee, Ibrahim Chaibou, also took part in several other suspicious matches over the years. One of them was the friendly between Bahrain and Togo, which was also arranged by Wilson Raj Perumal, the person who was involved in match-fixing scandals. Speaking of that person, he was arrested in Finland in 2011 following a complaint that he was using a fake passport.
Keep in mind that all of these match-fixing scandals took place prior to the introduction of VAR in soccer. Also, online sports betting in 2013 was nowhere near as big or popular as it is today and many of the regulators available today did not exist back then. Nowadays, you can find soccer predictions for South Africa and choose from way more options than before. Many of them provide multiple markets, promotions, and features.
2010 FIFA World Cup Bribe Scandal in 2015
Soccer fans worldwide will always remember the 2010 FIFA World Cup. This was the first major international soccer competition in Africa and will go down in history as one of the most interesting. Although the tournament was great, it was involved in various controversies, one of which was related to a bribe.
According to some US prosecutors, officials in South Africa used a bribe in order to host the 2010 World Cup. The allegations revealed that the people in charge paid $10M, but the sports minister at the time (Fikule Mbalula) was quick to respond that this was not the case.
The scandal was based around Danny Jordaan, a name that we will talk more about in just a bit. Following this controversy, he was also involved in another one a few years later and is still on trial for it.
Four Soccer Teams in South Africa were banned for Life in 2022
Match-fixing is one of the most common problems in soccer in many parts of the world, and South Africa is no exception. There have been many such scandals over the years, but the one in 2022 will go down in history.
Just a few years ago, 4 South African soccer clubs received a ban from the league they compete in for life. This happened following an investigation that proved that they took part in match-fixing.
Shivulani Dangerous Tigers, Kotoko Happy Boys, Nsami Mighty Birds, and Matiyasi FC were the four soccer clubs that were banned. It became clear that Matiyasi and Mighty Birds tried to keep the Tigers from receiving a promotion out of the SAFA Mopani Zebras Steam A. To achieve their goal, Matiyasi and Nsani played a game in which the first team secured a jaw-dropping lead of 22 goals at halftime. The final score was 59 to 1, and Nsami ended up scoring 41 own goals.
After seeing what happened, Sivulani Dangerous Tigers and Kotoko Happy Boys also decided to get involved. The match between them ended with a score of 33:1 in favor of the Tigers.
Needless to say, these insane scores were not left unnoticed because the result was nothing like that when these teams met before. There was an investigation that proved officials used red cards on Nsami so that the team eventually only had 7 players on the field.
Following these events, all 4 clubs were banned from competing, and the officials from each one received a suspension of 8 seasons. As for the referees, all of them are gone for 10 seasons.
Danny Jordaan’s Arrest
Danny Jordaan is a significant name in South African football because he had an important role in hosting the country’s FIFA 2010 World Cup. Unfortunately, he is also involved in some of the biggest soccer controversies in South Africa because he was arrested on the charges of fraud and theft.
The events took place in late 2024, and according to the information, Jordaan used close to R$1.3M from the South African Football Association to hire a security company and a PR firm for his own benefit. This news shocked the soccer community in the country because Danny Jordaan was one of the key figures for the World Cup bid many years ago. Moreover, he was the president of the association from which he used the money.
Based on the police’s information, Jordaan was arrested alongside another person. The arrest took place following an investigation by the Special Investigation Unit in South Africa. As of 2025, Danny Jordaan no longer faces theft charges, but the ones for fraud remain.
South Africa’s Women’s Soccer Team Boycotted Their Warm Up Two Weeks Before the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup
You don’t need to have a soccer expert to know that women do not get nearly as much money as men in soccer. There have been many debates about that over the years, but South Africa’s women’s soccer team decided to “take matters into their own hands” just a few days prior to the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
According to the information, the team boycotted a warm-up because the South African Football Association did not offer them any bonuses for the competition. Moreover, there was no written agreement about the payments for the World Cup, which put the players in a weird position.
Surprisingly, this problem was also present in Nigeria. The women’s football team in the country refused to train because the federation withheld match bonuses.
Nigeria and South Africa are just two of the many countries that had problems paying their players. This issue was present in many other parts of Africa.
The good news about this controversy is that it ended well for those involved. Thanks to Patrice Motsepe, a billionaire, South Africa’s Women’s World Cup players were able to attend the competition in Australia and New Zealand. The Billionaire also gave $320K to the 23 players that will attend the competition.
South African Football Association and the Unpaid Grants
The end of March 2025 marked another controversy in which the South African Football Association (SAFA) was involved. According to their information, SAFA owes R1M in unpaid stipend fees to eight clubs that are a part of the Gauteng Sasol Women’s League. The timing makes everything even worse because this is just a week after SAFA said it can’t pay its staff’s salaries on time.
Once the media was involved in this controversy, it became clear that SAFA owed money to 8 additional teams. Based on the information, the team swerve supposed to get R38,000 per season in addition to the prize money they can get from winning the specific league.
