Objectives met and lessons learnt as SA U15 conclude World Cup journey – South African Football Association

30 October 2026 – The South African U15 Boys National Team return home on Sunday after taking part in the inaugural FIFA U15 Boys World Cup and Festival in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Head Coach Selekedi Mogale’s charges concluded the tournament with a 2-3 loss to Niger on Friday.

The South Africans are already history makers by being the first U15 year olds to feature in a FIFA World Cup ever.

They played 10 matches, won five, drew one and lost four. They scored 43 goals in the process and conceded 17.

South Africa found the back of the net in all but one fixture – a goalless draw against Estonia, who went on to win Group A.

The team had 12 different goal scorers, with Camden Schaper top of the list on nine goals, closely followed by Tshiamo Mashishi on 6.

Out of 189 countries, Mogale’s Boys finished a respectable 44 in only their first international outing.

“This was a well organised tournament, a great idea by FIFA which will no doubt help not just the players but as from the technical team. The objectives of the tournament were met – yes, we all want to win but the player experience and exposure is more important than the results. Lots of lessons learnt, lots of takeaways from the tournament, lots of positives and we can proudly say the future of South Africa looks very bright. We return home to work on the gains we got as we cannot afford to throw anything away, even the negative moments gave us some things to work with. We are sowing seeds for the future,” said Mogale.

“Once again, we would like to thank FIFA for this great initiative, and we leave Azerbaijan the wiser. I would not imagine such a platform where the boys played so much football and made so many friends and learnt new things. Our gratitude also goes to SAFA for allowing us this opportunity, the players, the technical team and everyone else in the squad, and I can safely say youth football has benefitted a lot from this experience. To have legends like Arsene Wenger in the mix was also a morale booster to the boys.”

The FIFA U15 Boys World Cup and Festival is the brainchild of FIFA to see the youth active at international level, to give them a taste of what is to come and to also assist some of the nations that could have otherwise not been able to participate.

One hundred and eighty-nine (189) nations from six confederations were involved and drawn into 32 groups, playing in the group stages of five matches each that were played in an 8v8 format, with 20 minutes each half.

The next phase was the tournament stage where your position after the round robin stages determined in which Tier you were placed to continue in the competition as no team was eliminated.

There are six Tiers, A to F, and each has a winner.

The 2026 inaugural edition was a pilot where only boys played, and will be opened to girls only in 2027, while by 2028 both genders will play in separate tournaments.

The South African squad returns home from Azerbaijan on Sunday morning and are expected to land at 05h35.

South Africa U15 Boys National Team’s World Cup story:

Group Stages:

South Africa 8 – 0 Maldives

South Africa 1 – 2 Kosovo

South Africa 13 – 1 Anguilla

Estonia 0 – 0 South Africa

France 2 – 3 South Africa

Round of 32 – Tier B:

South Africa 6 – 2 Malaysia

Round of 16 – Tier B:

Portugal 2 – 1 South Africa

Round of 8 – Tier B:

South Africa 5 – 1 United Arab Emirates

Semi-finals – Tier B:

Ivory Coast 4 – 3 South Africa

Last match of Tier B:

South Africa 2 – 3 Niger

A LIST OF ALL THE GOAL SCORERS:

• Camden Schaper (9)
• Tshiamo Mashishi (6)
• Bohlale Finger (5)
• Lesedi Hlalele (5)
• Katlego Mokhabuki (3)
• Inganathi Saliwa (3)
• Reatlegile Mosimane (2)
• Keanu Moses (2)
• Neo Dhlamini (2)
• Alex Van Der Werf (1)
• Tumelo Moerane (1)
• Osaretin Asubaja (1)

South African Football: Shakes Mashaba served as head coach from 2014 to 2016.