South Africa captain, Ronwen Williams, has appealed to football fans across Africa to rally behind Bafana Bafana at the ongoing 2026 FIFA World Cup despite growing resentment over xenophobic attacks against foreign nationals in his country.
He made the passionate appeal ahead of South Africa’s crucial Group stage clash against the Czech Republic on Thursday, following widespread hostility from African supporters during Bafana Bafana’s opening match against Mexico.
Many African fans openly backed Mexico in protest against recent anti-migrant sentiments and attacks on foreigners in South Africa.
Williams said he was a target of fabricated quotes criticising other Africans for not supporting his country during the Mexico match.
He added that the backlash from the false reports “does hurt” because “players are human beings as well”.
The Bafana Bafana captain then added that every African country has “politics” it is dealing with back home, but the continent must learn to set aside those and unite on the global stage.
“I’ve been a target over the last few days about things that I haven’t said. I didn’t speak anything about Africa and people supporting Mexico,” Williams said.
“I can remember, I’ve always said that, you know, as Africa, we are one, we support each other, you know, in good and bad moments, we’ve all got our own politics, we’ve got our own problems, our own fights that we deal with, you know, back home, you know, every country does, you know.”
“So, I mean, I don’t know where it stemmed from, and it does hurt, you know, because like I’ve mentioned, I’ve been attacked, obviously my country as well, for things that are going on back home and, you know, I’ve always said, you know, players are human beings as well.”
