South Africa has stripped of the qualification victory of the male World Cup on an ineligible player

South Africa was stripped of a victory in 2026 at the FIFA World Cup by FIFA on Monday and lost the first place in its group for alignating an ineligible player.

FIFA’s disciplinary decision canceled a victory in South Africa against Lesotho in March, left Benin Top with two laps to do and gave Nigeria a new hope to go to the finals tournament.

Only the group’s winner on October 14 will advance directly to the World Cup co-organized by the United States, Canada and Mexico. South Africa has not played during a World Cup since the organization of the 2010 edition.

Before the decisive qualification matches taking up next week, FIFA said that its disciplinary judges had ordered South Africa to lose a 3-0 defeat which had been a 2-0 victory over the Lesotho.

South Africa selected Teboho Mokoena for the match in Polokwane when the midfielder should have served a ban on a match to obtain yellow cards in two previous qualification matches.

The administrative error is embarrassing for South Africa, because its highest football official, Patrice Word, is vice-president of FIFA as elected chief of the Confederation of African Football (CAF). Words also has the Mamelodi Sundowns Club for which Mokoena plays.

FIFA said the South African Football Federation can call on the loss of the game. FIFA has also ordered a fine of the 10,000 Swiss francs (US $ 12,500) and Mokoena federation was officially warned.

Look | Waiting for the World Cup:

While waiting for the World Cup

With the 2026 World Cup now in a year, Chris Jones of CBC Sports is examining its impact and what it will mean for Canada in this video trial.