South Africa national team coach Hugo Broos believes his side has a chance of qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup after learning their opponents in the qualifiers following Thursday’s draw.

Bafana Bafana were drawn in Group C along with neighbours Zimbabwe and Lesotho, Rwanda, Benin and Nigeria.

“The away games will be very important in a group like ours, but now a little bit more because we have five difficult away games for different reasons,” he told www.safa.net.

“I think it is possible for South Africa to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup first in the group. If you see the progress we have made in the last two years, you cannot compare those qualifiers (for the 2026 World Cup) with the qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. We are better now, we have a better team now. So okay, I am confident.”

Broos has been at the helm since May 2021 and recently led his charges to the Afcon finals.