Nelson Mandela Challenge set for November 30

Cape Town - Iran, led by former South Africa team coach Carlos Queiroz', are being tipped as the opponents for the annual Nelson Mandela Challenge fixture against Bafana Bafana.

SAFA Head of Communications, Dominic Chimhavi, confirmed to Sport24 on Thursday, that the Nelson Mandela Challenge will take place this year, with the date set as November 30.

Chimhavi also confirmed that, as speculated, the match will be held at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit.

The Mbombela Stadium was due to host the Sudan AFCON 2015 qualifier before agreeing to allow the match to be moved to the Moses Mahbida Stadium in Durban in honour of the late national team captain Senzo Meyiwa.

There are no further international dates after Bafana Bafana's final AFCON qualifier against Nigeria on November 19 which means that SAFA would need the PSL to agree to postponing an already under-pressure fixture list to allow this match to proceed. 

Chimhavi was confident that all footballing bodies in the country would co-operate in order to ensure that this match takes place smoothly especially when considering the reason for the match.

SAFA are still trying to finalise the opponents for the November 30 fixture but Soccer Laduma are speculating that SAFA are attempting to bring former coach Carlos Queiroz back to the country, with his 2014 Soccer World Cup side as opponents for Bafana Bafana, for the annual international friendly in honour of the late president Nelson Mandela.

It seems likely, at this stage, that the Bafana Bafana side for this fixture would be made up of locally based players due to the match being played out of the international window.

Full history of opponents, results and venues:

1994       South Africa       2–1         Zambia (Johannesburg)

1995       South Africa       1–1         Argentina (Johannesburg)

1996       South Africa       2–3         Brazil (Johannesburg)

1997       South Africa       0–2         Netherlands (Johannesburg)

1998       South Africa       2–1         Egypt (Johannesburg)

1999       South Africa       1–0         Sweden (Pretoria)                 

2000       South Africa       0–0         France(Johannesburg)

2001       South Africa       1–0         Egypt (Johannesburg)   

2002       South Africa       1–1 (1–4 p)  Senegal (Johannesburg)      

2003       South Africa       2–1         Costa Rica (Potchefstroom)

2004       South Africa       2–1         Nigeria (Johannesburg) 

2005       South Africa       3–2         Senegal (Port Elizabeth)

2006       South Africa       1–0         Egypt (London, United Kingdom)             

2007       South Africa       0–1         United States (Johannesburg)

2008       South Africa       3–2         Cameroon (Rustenburg)

2009       South Africa       2–1         Norway (Royal Bafokeng Stadium)

2010       South Africa       0–1         United States (Cape Town)

2011       South Africa       1–1         Ivory Coast (Port Elizabeth)

2012       South Africa       0–1         Zambia (Johannesburg)

2013       South Africa       0–2         Nigeria (Durban)