South Africa - South Korea: score, highlights and statistics

South Africa and South Korea meet in the decisive final Group A fixture of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with both teams knowing exactly what they need from this game to shape their tournament fates.

Match Info: South Africa vs South Korea

South Africa vs South Korea kicks off at 02:00 BST on Thursday 25 June 2026 (01:00 UTC) at Estadio BBVA Bancomer in Monterrey, Mexico - the third and final Group A fixture for both nations at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Where to Watch South Africa vs South Korea?

Viewers in the United States have the widest range of broadcasters. On traditional television, Fox Sports 1 carries the match in English and UNIVERSO in Spanish. Online, US fans can stream via FOX One, Foxsports.com, Fubo TV, Peacock, and UNIVERSO NOW, with Futbol de Primera Radio providing Spanish-language audio coverage.

In Australia, the game is available free of charge on SBS On Demand, while New Zealand viewers can watch via TVNZ+. Canadian audiences can stream through TSN+. South African fans can catch the match on free-to-air SABC television.

Across the rest of the world, the match is available on DIRECTV Sports Argentina and DIRECTV GO (Argentina), CazéTV (Brazil), DAZN España (Spain), DAZN Italia (Italy), beIN SPORTS CONNECT (France), VIX (Mexico), and TVP Sport plus sport.tvp.pl (Poland).

South Africa vs South Korea - Match Preview

South Africa return to the World Cup stage for the first time since 2010 and face a South Korea side captained by Son Heung-min in what is widely expected to be his final tournament - making this a fixture of genuine personal and national stakes on both sides.

South Africa, under 74-year-old Belgian coach Hugo Broos, qualified through CAF Group C above Nigeria and finished fourth at the 2023 AFCON. Their setup is organised around goalkeeper Ronwen Williams, midfielder Teboho Mokoena and forward Lyle Foster, with winger Oswin Appollis - 8 international goals - providing their most consistent attacking threat. The March 2026 window against Panama exposed a recurring problem: Foster was wasteful in front of goal, and a defensive lapse from a cross handed Panama a headed winner in the second match. Broos enters this fixture knowing his side's counter-attacking pace and defensive discipline are their most reliable tools.

South Korea coach Hong Myung-Bo - who captained this nation to the semi-finals at the 2002 World Cup - has assembled the highest individual ceiling in Group A outside Mexico. Kim Min-Jae anchors the backline with Bayern Munich authority, Kang-In Lee provides PSG-level creativity, and Hwang Hee-Chan delivers relentless pressing energy alongside Son. The question entering the tournament was the three-back defensive system that conceded 4 against Ivory Coast and 1 against Austria in March, but the pre-tournament results against El Salvador and Trinidad and Tobago - 6 goals scored, none conceded across 2 matches - show a team that has found its rhythm.

Head-to-Head: South Africa vs South Korea

South Africa and South Korea have crossed paths only 3 times in their entire international histories, and South Korea hold the upper hand in that short record - most recently a 2-1 friendly win in 2016, a result that broadly reflects the gap in squad quality between the two nations entering this group stage.

All known head-to-head meetings between the two sides:

• 2016 - International Friendly - South Korea 2:1 South Africa
• Two earlier meetings (prior to 2016) - full historical records are not publicly available in a complete verified form

South Africa - Recent Form

South Africa go into this match with 1 win, 2 draws and 2 defeats from their last 5 outings, scoring just 4 goals across that run - a return that underlines both their defensive resilience and their chronic lack of cutting edge in front of goal.

The most recent fixture, a goalless draw against Nicaragua on 29 May 2026, confirmed that Bafana Bafana can stay organised defensively against modest opposition. The two Panama games in March told the familiar story in sharper relief: a 1-1 draw in the first meeting, then a 1-2 defeat in the second after Mbekezeli Mbokazi's long-range equaliser was cancelled out by a headed winner from a cross the backline misread. January's 1-2 loss to Cameroon and December's 3-2 win away in Zimbabwe round out a sequence of a team that can take points but cannot yet control games.

South Korea - Recent Form

South Korea arrive in this match with 3 wins and 2 defeats from their last 5 games, scoring 7 goals and conceding 5 - numbers that capture both the genuine quality in their attack and the defensive questions that Hong Myung-Bo is still working to answer.

The most recent results are positive. A 5-0 thrashing of Trinidad and Tobago on 31 May and a 1-0 win over El Salvador on 4 June showed a team with sharpness and clinical instinct as the tournament approaches. The cautionary notes come from March: a 0-4 loss to Ivory Coast in Milton Keynes - when Son and Kang-In Lee were rested - and a 0-1 defeat in Vienna to Austria despite Hong fielding a stronger lineup. Both results exposed the vulnerability of the three-back system in transition. A 1-0 win over Ghana in November 2025 completes a sequence that confirms: when fully fit and at full strength, this South Korea side is one of the most dangerous teams in the group stage.

Facts and Statistics

5 key facts about the South Africa vs South Korea fixture and the context surrounding it:

• South Africa return to the FIFA World Cup for the first time in 16 years - their last appearance was in 2010, when they became the first host nation in history to be eliminated in the group stage.
• Son Heung-min carries 140+ caps into this tournament, making him the most experienced player on the pitch and the one most likely playing in his final World Cup.
• South Korea have scored 7 goals in their last 5 fixtures; South Africa have managed just 4 in the same period, a gap that reflects the difference in attacking firepower between the two squads.
• South Africa and South Korea have met only 3 times in official international football - one of the shortest head-to-head records among all Group A pairings at this World Cup.
• Estadio BBVA Bancomer in Monterrey holds over 53,000 spectators and provides a grand setting for what could be a winner-takes-all elimination battle for one or both sides.