South Africa and Egypt’s Africa Cup of Nations story began in the 1950s, when they c0-founded the continental tournament. Another chapter of this history will be written during the 2025 edition in Morocco. South Africa and Egypt’s history in the Africa Cup of Nations is long and storied, dating all the way back to the late 1950s, when the continental competition was conceptualised and then actualised.
When the maiden Afcon took place in 1957, hosted by Sudan, South Africa was poised to participate as one of the four founding members, alongside the inaugural hosts, as well as Egypt and Ethiopia. However, owing to the apartheid government’s racially divisive policies, South Africa was excluded from the first Afcon. The regime at the time had insisted on sending a team consisting of only white players to Sudan.
The other three founding members vetoed this. Egypt went on to be crowned the first African champions after downing Ethiopia 4-0 in the final. It was the first of the Pharaohs’ record seven Afcon titles.
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As for South Africa, the country would not participate in another Afcon tournament until 1996, two years after the country’s first democratic elections. Coincidentally, they were drawn against the Egyptians in the group phase of their first official participation in the continental competition, which they hosted. They lost that match 1-0.
But spurred on by the prevailing spirit of renewal and rebirth sweeping the nation at the time, Bafana Bafana did not lose another match as they went on to win the tournament for the first time in history. With a multiracial team at that. The South Africans reached another final in 1998, with Egypt their opponents.
The Egyptians were once again on the winning side (2-0), to clinch their fourth Afcon title. Bafana Bafana then went on a downward spiral after those golden years following readmission, even failing to qualify for some Afcon tournaments. This includes the 2010 edition, the year South Africa became the first African country to host the Fifa World Cup.
There was another qualification failure in 2012, probably the most embarrassing as the team celebrated qualification only to discover thatthey had misinterpreted the rules. The South Africans did not qualify for Afcon in 2017 and 2021 either. Despite being in this rut, Bafana Bafana did manage to qualify for the 2019 tournament, hosted by Egypt.
They bested the host nation and tournament favourites, beating them 1-0 thanks to aThembinkosi Lorchstrike in the round of 16. In 2025, Egypt is grouped with Bafana Bafana again as both nations hope to add to their respective Afcon trophy tallies. When they meet on Friday, 26 December in the Moroccan city of Agadir, they will reignite their rivalry once again.
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