South Africa’s World Cup visa delay hits preparation

A visa paperwork error delayed South Africa’s World Cup charter flight by a day, grounding the squad in Johannesburg. Football minister Gayton McKenzie publicly accused the association of making players look “like fools,” as coach Hugo Broos lost critical prep

A charter flight that was supposed to leave early Sunday never cleared takeoff in Johannesburg. Instead, South Africa’s World Cup squad sat grounded at OR Tambo International Airport as the clock kept moving toward the opening match they can’t afford to slip.

The team’s World Cup charter is now set to depart Monday, June 1, after a visa fiasco delayed it by a day. They will travel to Mexico with all players and all but one assistant coach, but the scramble didn’t end when the departure date shifted. It escalated online.

In a post on X, South African Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie lit into the country’s football association, accusing it of causing a mess that left the players and staff looking “like fools.”

“All players have received their visas. Still waiting on documentation are an assistant coach, the team doctor, the head of security and one analyst. The charter will leave Monday,” Gayton posted Sunday afternoon.

Earlier, South Africa’s squad had been scheduled to board a charter flight from OR Tambo International Airport early Sunday morning, bound for Pachuca, the high-altitude city north of Mexico City where coach Hugo Broos planned to base the team. The flight never left.

Football association officials scrambled through the day to work with the U.S. embassy in Johannesburg, aiming to clear the remaining visas by Monday morning, with the delay traced to an administrative error by SAFA, South African state broadcaster SABC reported.

McKenzie said the timing—and the optics—made the situation worse. He posted that SAFA’s travel and visa failure was “embarrassing and grossly unfair to players and coaching staff,” adding that he has informed SAFA that he needs a report and action against those responsible.

“We are being made to look like fools,” he wrote on X.

It’s not just a bureaucratic setback for a team trying to build momentum. Broos was counting on Pachuca for a specific reason: elevation. The 74-year-old Belgian. who has said this World Cup will be his last before retiring. chose the base because Pachuca sits roughly 8. 000 feet above sea level. He has said publicly the squad would need at least 10 days to adjust before the June 11 opener against co-host Mexico at Estadio Azteca.

That preparation window has been squeezed.

The delay landed on the heels of a sendoff. The squad had received a grand public sendoff at Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg the night before the charter was due to depart—so players and staff went from a celebratory routine to stalled paperwork within hours.

Not everyone was caught in the same way. Players from Mamelodi Sundowns, who competed at the FIFA Club World Cup last year, were not affected because they already had the required U.S. travel documentation. The paperwork problems hit other members of the squad.

SAFA moved quickly after the flight was grounded, calling an emergency committee meeting for Sunday evening and saying an update would follow. In the meantime, the team continued training in Johannesburg.

After Mexico on June 11, South Africa’s group-stage schedule continues with Czechia on June 18 in Atlanta and South Korea on June 24 in Monterrey. Before those matches, they have a warm-up friendly against Jamaica on Friday, June 6.

This is Bafana Bafana’s first World Cup appearance since South Africa hosted the tournament in 2010. and their route back was far from smooth. They had a 2-0 win over Lesotho overturned after a suspended midfielder, Teboho Mokoena, played in the match. South Africa survived the penalty, finishing a point ahead of Nigeria and Benin in their group.

South Africa World Cup visa delay Gayton McKenzie SAFA Hugo Broos OR Tambo International Airport Pachuca training base Estadio Azteca Mexico June 11 SABC Teboho Mokoena