The South Africa national development football team, is a development

football (soccer) Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

team, which represents

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and is controlled by the

South African Football Association The South African Football Association (colloquially known as SAFA) is the national administrative governing body that controls the sport of football in the Republic of South Africa (RSA) and is a member of the Confederation of African Footbal ...

, the governing body for football in South Africa. The team's main objective is to give international exposure to fringe home-based players, by allowing them to play 'B-level' internationals. Since the advent of the

African Nations Championship The African Nations Championship, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies African Nations Championship and commonly abbreviated as CHAN, is a biennial African association football tournament organized by the Confederation of Afri ...

, the team now attempts to qualify for and play at the event. Since 2008 SAFA have sent the team to the

COSAFA Cup The COSAFA Cup (known fully as COSAFA Senior Challenge Cup) is an annual tournament for teams from Southern Africa organized by Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA), inaugurated after the ban against the Republic of Sout ...

, instead of the senior team. The team has played at one African Nations Championship and two COSAFA Cups.

Player eligibility

African Championship of Nations regulations require teams to be made up only of players from the association's national leagues. As the team is not an official national team, and does not play in FIFA sanctioned tournaments, clubs are not required to release players for matches. Usually the only

Premier Soccer League The Premier Soccer League (PSL) is the administrative body for professional soccer leagues and cups in South Africa. It is based in Johannesburg, and was founded in 1996 following an agreement between the National Soccer League and the remnant ...

players released are non-squad members. Many players are selected from the

National First Division The South African Championship, officially known as the Motsepe Foundation Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest league of South African football after the South African Premiership. Both the South African Championship and ...

(second tier) and

Vodacom League The SAFA Second Division (known as the ABC Motsepe League for sponsorship reasons, and previously the Vodacom League between 1998 and 2012, was founded in 1998 as the overall third tier of South African football. The competition is regulated by ...

(third tier).

Match status

Matches played by the team are not classified as 'A-level' internationals. Thus

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awarded for matches do not count as senior national team caps. Matches played by the team also do not count towards FIFA ranking points, even when the team plays other countries' senior national teams.

Recent and future matches

Tournament records

African Nations Championship record

COSAFA Cup record

*Before the 2008 tournament, SAFA sent the senior team.

Honours

: 1 ::

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*Prior to 2008, SAFA sent the senior national team to the COSAFA Cup.

References

External links

South Africa FA official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:South Africa National Development Football Team South Africa national soccer team National A' association football teams