Delight For Six Excluded Bafana Players

South African Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture, Gayton McKenzie confirmed that the six players excluded from the final Bafana Bafana squad would travel to Mexico for the 2026 FIFA World Cup opener via a sponsored trip. Brandon Petersen, Patrick Maswanganyi, Thabiso Monyane, Thapelo Morena, Lebohang Maboe, and Brooklyn Poggenpoel had been part of the 32 players named in Hugo Broos’ provisional squad but missed out on the final 26 list.

Bafana's travel plans had already been complicated after the South African Football Association (SAFA) announced that they experienced visa issues, causing the trip to be moved from Sunday morning to Monday night. The six players will now travel with the group for the opening Group A match against Mexico at the iconic Estadio Azteca on 11 June.

"These six men trained, sacrificed, and prepared with the same dedication as every player in that squad," McKenzie stated, as reported by the Sunday World. "They were part of this journey. The margin between making the final cut and missing out at a World Cup is razor-thin, and it would be wrong for that margin to mean that their contribution simply disappears.

"They deserve to be there, and they deserve to see what they helped build. Hugo Broos had to make impossible choices this week and we accept this. It is in the nature of sport because disappointment for some is the inescapable flip side of glory for others. That is the nature of elite sport.

"But such choices should not be the last word on what these six men mean to Bafana Bafana and to this country. They remain part of the family.” The trip was sponsored by the proudly South African brand Old School, whose partnership covered the full cost of travel and accommodation for the six players.