SAFA gaming secures spot in FIFAe World Cup

The SAFA Gaming national Rocket League team is officially returning to the FIFAe World Cup.

They successfully qualified through the FIFAe Regional Qualifiers, a tournament featuring 13 CAF members, which took place from October 24–26, 2025.

The "FIFAe World Cup 2025™" is the official eSports competition organised by FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association). This prestigious global event is scheduled to be held in Saudi Arabia in December 2025.

A PATHWAY FOR DIGITAL ATHLETES

SAFA CEO Lydia Monyepao congratulated the team on their achievement.

“We are immensely proud to have the Rocket League team back at the FIFAe World Cup,” she said.

“We are also delighted that they follow in the footsteps of their traditional football counterparts to qualify for their respective World Cups, which creates a wider scope for the youth to look at SAFA and its opportunities to represent the country at official FIFA tournaments.”

The qualifying squad is a six-member team, selected from local tournaments including Comic-Con Africa 2025 and the Telkom VS Gaming 2025, which were held between July and September 2025. The roster includes:

Gareth “Snowyy” Spiers

Brayden “Gunzinho” Keith

David “2DIE4” Morgenrood

Joshua “Sweaty” Kleynhans (Reserve)

Amandla “N1tro” Dlamini (Reserve)

Umar “Werty” Rasool (Reserve)

These players were the top six finishers at the final selection tournament.

Monyepao also spoke about the Federation’s vision for the future of digital sports in the country.

“With this success, we look to grow eSport and the SAFA gaming community so that we can cement a credible pathway for future digital athletes as part of our offering as a Federation.”

She concluded, “This also creates new heroes and role models for young boys and girls to consider gaming as part of their sports careers, thus creating further opportunities for SAFA to offer new audience to their sponsors. We wish them well in Saudi Arabia and know they will represent us well.”

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