South Africa risks seeing their World Cup qualification hopes thrown into jeopardy after FIFA confirmed disciplinary proceedings over the fielding of a suspended player in their March qualifier against Lesotho.

World football’s governing body informed the South African Football Association this week that it had opened a case concerning midfielder Teboho Mokoena, who featured in their 2-0 win despite being ineligible. Officials confirmed that Mokoena should have missed the fixture as he had already collected two cautions, triggering an automatic one-match suspension.

South Africa admitted the error but believed they had escaped punishment due to FIFA’s months-long delay in acting. Even coach Hugo Broos had suggested the matter had been quietly settled. Rival nations, however, criticised FIFA for dragging its feet, arguing the uncertainty unfairly influenced the group’s competitiveness.

According to FIFA’s disciplinary code: “If a team fields a player who is not eligible to participate (due to suspension, registration issues, nationality, etc.), the match is automatically forfeited. The default result is a 3-0 loss, unless the actual result was even more disadvantageous to the offending team.”

If enforced, South Africa would be stripped of three points, dropping them into a tie with Benin at the top of Group C on 14 points, with Nigeria and Rwanda just three points behind. Only the group winners advance directly to next summer’s finals in North America.

The final two qualifiers will be decisive, with South Africa travelling to Zimbabwe before hosting Rwanda, while Benin face Rwanda away and Nigeria at home.

This would not be the first time an African side has been punished for fielding an ineligible player. In the 2018 qualifiers, Algeria were handed a 3-0 win over Nigeria after Shehu Abdullahi, who was suspended, played in a 1-1 draw. Nigeria still finished top of their group and reached Russia. Similarly, ahead of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Cape Verde were docked points for fielding Fernando Varela against Tunisia, costing them a playoff berth. (AriseNews TV)