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Why is the South African football team called 'Bafana Bafana'?
short by Ishaan Mukherjee / on Friday, 12 June, 2026
The South African football team is called 'Bafana Bafana', a Zulu phrase that translates roughly as 'the boys'. The name was coined by three South African sports reporters in 1992 after the country's post-apartheid return to international football. South Africa played their first FIFA World Cup in 1998, the second one in 2002 and hosted the tournament in 2010.
read more at ESPN