The South Africa national under-17 football team, nicknamed Amajimbos, is a youth football (soccer) team, which represents South Africa at under-17 level and is controlled by the South African Football Association, the governing body for football in South Africa. The team's main objectives are to qualify and play at the U-17 Africa Cup of Nations and FIFA U-17 World Cup and develop the players for South Africa national soccer team.
History FIFA U-17 World Cup The team's greatest achievement to date include a second-place finish at the 2015 African U-17 Championship, hosted in Niger and qualifying for the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile.
In 2025, ten years after they made their FIFA U-17 World Cup debut, they qualified for the 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar after reaching the quarterfinals of the 2025 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations. The team became the first South African team to win their first match at the world cup when they won 3–1 against Bolivia despite being a man down. They made it past the group stages for the first team reaching the round of 32 where they lost 3–0 to Japan.
U-17 Africa Cup of Nations At the 2025 U-17 Africa Cup of Nations they exited in the quarterfinals with a 3–1 loss to hosts Morocco after finishing as runners-up in Group B (1 loss, 1 win, and a draw). The team qualified for their second FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar.
FIFA U/16 Talent Development Scheme Tournament In 2024, they were invited to play at the FIFA U/16 Talent Development Scheme Tournament held in Ivory Coast. The team finished with 2 wins and 1 loss.
COSAFA U-17 Cup They won the 2020 COSAFA U-17 Cup 4–2 via penalties after the match ended in a 1–1 draw against Zambia. At the 2022 COSAFA U-17 Challenge Cup, they lost 1–0 in the final to Zambia. They won their fourth COSAFA title in 2025 defeating Angola 2–1 in the final. Current squad The following 21 players were selected for the 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup held in Qatar between 3-21 November 2025:
Results and fixtures The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.
Legend
2025
2026
Competitive record
FIFA U-17 World Cup Hosts/YearWDL 1985Banned 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995Did not qualify 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015Group Stage301225 2017Did not qualify 2019 2023 2025Round 32411258Total2/207124713
U-17 Africa Cup of Nations record U-17 Africa Cup of NationsHosts/YearWDL 1995Did not qualify 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005Fourth Place521286 2007Group Stage311155 2009Did not qualify 2011 2013 2015Runners-up522187 2017Did not qualify 2019 2021 Cancelled 2023Quarter-finals4103512 2025Quarter-finals411258 2026QualifiedTotalRunners-up217593138
COSAFA U-17 Championship COSAFA U-17 Challenge Cup recordYearRound* 2016 Runners-Up5401111+10 2017Fourth place530111110 2018 Runners-Up531183+5 2019 Group Stage 301 2 1 11 +19 2020 Champions 531 17 6 +1 2021 Did not participate 2022 Runners-Up5302173+14 2024 Semi-finalist4301114+7 2025 Champions5500223+19Total3724398841
Head-to-head record The following table shows South Africa's head-to-head record in the FIFA U-17 World Cup. OpponentWin %Total
See also Bafana Bafana (South Africa national football team) Amajita (South Africa national under-20 football team) Amaglug-glug (South Africa national under-23 football team) Amabinneplaas (South Africa national development football team) Africa U-17 Cup of Nations
References
External links South Africa FA official website