Patrice Motsepe says he stood for a second term as Confederation of African Football (Caf) president because major sponsors he helped pull in threatened to leave too if he left. Caf this month announced a profit “for the first time in several years” for the 2023-24 financial year along with several major new investments in infrastructure and development, plus new payments to clubs taking part in its competitions and increases in prizemoney.

Bafana Bafana are going back to the World Cup for the first time in 15 years since hosting it in 2010 and the first time as qualifiers since Korea and Japan 23 years ago. There were, of course, wild celebrations by the players, coach Hugo Broos and his technical staff and supporters at Mbombela Stadium after the South Africans clinched qualification for the 2026 World Cup with their 3-0 win against Rwanda on Tuesday night.