Hugo Broos, South Africa head coach during the South Africa Press Conference at NH Hotel, in Sandton Johannesburg on 10 November 2025 ©Phakamisa Lensman/BackpagePix
Tuesday Nov 11, 2025. 13:00
Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos has emphasised that South Africa will not treat their upcoming game against Zambia as a friendly.
The two nations are set to meet at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha on Saturday in an international friendly as both teams prepare for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Morocco in December.
Speaking at the Bafana Bafana camp in Johannesburg on Monday, Broos was very clear on what he expects from his team.
“This is not a friendly game. I want to see again [the] Bafana Bafana [that] I saw the last months and years. A team who has a good mentality, who wants to win the game, who [is] going for every ball, for every meter,” said Broos.
Bafana Bafana’s last friendly game came against Mozambique on 10 June in Polokwane and the side have only played in FIFA World Cup qualifiers. Broos stated that the competitive nature of qualifiers made them easier to prepare for and to keep players motivated, hence his intent to treat the upcoming friendly as a competitive fixture.
“When did we play our last friendly game? I don’t remember, but it’s quite a long time, so all the other games were qualifiers. So then the concentration of focus is easier to do than before a friendly game,” he said.
The former Belgian international is gearing up for AFCON and stated that the upcoming fixture is not an opportunity to fine-tune certain areas on the field, but rather to cement the nation’s status on the continent.
”Yeah, you can always improve, but I don’t think that you take a friendly game to improve something, not at this moment,” said Broos.
“This is a game to confirm again how good we are and what a good team we are, and that is, that confirmation I want to see, I want to see Saturday. I think the most important thing for Saturday is that you play a good game and that we play on our level, like we did in the previous years.”
By Nic Gleeson
CLICK HERE TO VISIT AFRICAN FOOTBALL ZAMBIA
