29 October 2025 – The South African Under-17 men’s national team wrapped up their preparations at home on Wednesday afternoon ahead of their departure to Qatar on Thursday, 30 October 2025.
Coach Vela Khumalo’s charges will line up against the best U17 national teams in the FIFA U17 World Cup to be held in Qatar from 3–27 November 2025.
Khumalo said while there is room for improvement after his charges played against the Kaizer Chiefs DDC team, he was happy with what he saw on the pitch is evening.
“Even though we played very, very well against Kaizer Chiefs, a strong DDC team that is going to Manchester, we cannot get carried away because we played well here. There are certain things that we still need to work on,” he said.
The SA U17 coach said he was happy with the personnel he has selected, and he expects the team to improve as the tournament continues.
The South Africans play their opening match of the tournament against Bolivia on Monday. “I think from what I saw, and I’ve been following Bolivia and the other teams, I think we stand a good chance of coming out of the group if we can apply ourselves,” he continued.
“We can get out of the group from what I saw. But you never know if that was the true reflection of the teams or they were still preparing. But honestly speaking, we stand a good chance of going out of the group.”
Amajimbos have been in camp in Johannesburg for the past few days and played a friendly match against their Malawi counterparts away from home on Sunday.
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