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Reinstated into the international scene in 1992, South Africa played their first international, a friendly, against Cameroon on July 7, 1992 at Durban, winning 1-0.
Their World Cup debut was difficult. For their first 1994 World Cup qualifying attempt South Africa failed miserably. While beating Congo twice, 1-0, they were crushed 4-0 by Nigeria in Lagos and could only manage a 0-0 draw in the return match in Johannesburg.
Qualifying for the 1998 finals is a first in the short history of the Bafana Bafana.
However South Africa won the African Nations Cup, which they hosted in 1996, at their first attempt. They retained the trophy in '98 in Burkina-Faso, beating Egypt 2-0 in the final. More importantly South Africa discovered a new striker - 20-year-old Benny McCarthy of Ajax.
Thanks to their original success in the Nations Cup, several South African players found themselves being signed by foreign clubs, notably Mark Fisher who signed for Lazio of Rome for a South African record of 10 million francs, before later moving to Bolton in England. Also joining him in England were national team captain Lucas Radebe (Leeds Utd) and Eric Tinkler (Barnsley).
The side will be managed by Frenchman Philippe Troussier, who coached Nigeria through World Cup qualifying and took Burkina-Faso to the semi-finals of the '98 Africa Nations Cup.
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First participation in World Cup finals