And yes, there’s proof.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off tonight on June 11th with a repeat of the match that kicked off the 2010 FIFA World Cup on June 11th 2010 – South Africa v Mexico. And it will be 40 years on from June 11th 1986, when South African coach Hugo Broos played in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico for Belgium against Paraguay.
But that’s enough loosely related June11th trivia. On with the story.
South Africans will loudly support the South African national teams wherever and whenever possible, as they should. But honestly, there are very limited chances of Bafana Bafana making it out of the group stage this time around. It will take something very special or very unusual. Not that that can’t happen. And so you never say never, but also… well… you might actually say never in this particular case.
And this knowledge seems to have affected the overall happiness of the playing squad, according to this highly scientific measurement of overall playing squad happiness. That is, how many of the players are smiling in their photographs for the official Panini FIFA World Cup 2026 sticker album.
And for South Africa, it’s a phat zero.
Eish! Wena!
It’s a damning statistic. Bafana Bafana and Canada with no happy players at all, while each and every one of the Uruguayans is beaming. That’s likely because Uruguay in the same time zone as many of the matches, so they don’t have to hope that everyone back home gets up at 4am to watch.
France are smiling as pre-tournament favourites. Japan because it’s respectful, and Scotland because they get to spend a week away from Scotland. Colombia are right up there too, but that’s probably just the drugs.
But even Iran score 4/18, and have you seen what’s going on over there?
Helpfully (and actually also downright weirdly), there’s a whole Youtube video with the stickers for each of the SA squad, and honestly, it really does look like it’s actually a real chore for them to have been selected to represent their country.
“Hey Siyabonga, could you just work out the somewhat testing maths problem we’ve put
on the big screen just over my left shoulder?” *CLICK*
“Lyle, guess who has to go straight back to Burnley when this photoshoot is done?” *CLICK*
“Mohau, if you look out of the window over there, you’ll see that someone has parked your car in.” *CLICK*
“OK Bathusi. Let’s get the shot. Oh, by the way, your cat just died.” *CLICK*
It’s not exactly Happy Shiny People Holding Hands, is it?
Representing their nation at the biggest sporting event EVER! (albeit that it’s actually a bit shit) and this is the best that they can manage? Abject confusion, abject misery or abject confusion and misery?
It’s (quite literally) not a pretty sight, and it does nothing to encourage the nation to find that gees and get behind the boys.
Look at how the rugby guys do it:
OK, so that’s Siya “Smiles” Kolisi and he’s in the kitchen of The Black Sheep, and it’s obviously very difficult to look sad while you’re at The Black Sheep, especially surrounded by that crowd of staff. Just look at them!
But still. Maybe there’s a lesson for the Panini photographers here for future tournaments.
Sadly – and this is realism, not pessimism – I think that the Bafana Bafana photos might be foreshadowing their imminent exit from the tournament. And we haven’t even kicked off yet.
It’s too late this time around, but maybe just a hint of a smile might power them into the knockout stages in Morocco, Portugal, and Spain (and Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay) in 2030?