South Africa was stripped of the victory of the Men’s World Cup over an unqualified player

South Africa was stripped of victory in 2026 in the World Cup qualification by FIFA on Monday and lost first place in its group to create an unqualified player.

FIFA’s disciplinary referee turned against South Africa’s victory against Lesoto in March, and Benin Top left two rounds to go and gave Nigeria the hope of progressing to the finals.

Only the Group on October 14 will advance directly to the World Cup in which the United States, Canada and Mexico participate. South Africa has not played in the World Cup since hosting the 2010 edition.

Before resuming decisive qualified matches next week, FIFA said that its disciplinary judges ordered South Africa to confiscate a 3-0 loss, which was a victory over Lesoto 2-0.

South Africa chose the TEBOHO Mokoena for the game in Polokwane when the midfielder should have had one ban in one match to get yellow cards in two previous games.

The administrative error is embarrassing for South Africa as the best football official, Patrice Motsby, is the Vice President of FIFA as captain of the African Football Association (CAF). Motsepe also owns the Mamelodi Sundowns club played by Mokoena.

FIFA said the Football Association in South Africa can challenge the confiscation of the game. FIFA also fined the union 10,000 Swiss franc (12,500 USD) and Mokoena was officially warned.

Watch | Waiting for the World Cup:

Waiting for the World Cup

With the 2026 World Cup now one year away, Chris Jones is looking at CBC SPORTS, and what this means for Canada in this video article.