First Touch ’26 - South Africa, Featuring: Kiyan Singh & Pitchinvaders

First Touch | World Soccer · Jan 23, 2026 · 19m

There is so much to love about South Africa’s national team—Bafana Bafana—from the energy on the pitch to the color and spirit in the stands. In this World Cup Capsule, Kiyan Singh, Kickback Committee's resident South African, takes you inside his home country’s long-awaited return to the World Cup for the first time since hosting in 2010, and explains why this moment feels bigger than soccer itself.

We trace the sport’s complicated history through colonialism and apartheid—from separate, racially divided football associations and a decades-long FIFA suspension, to the creation of a unified…