Mofokeng or Nkota? Who’ll wear Bafana Bafana’s No.10 shirt at Afcon?

Bafana Bafana will have two of their most talented starlets at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals.

And they are Relebohile Mofokeng and Mohau Nkota who are former teammates at Orlando Pirates.

Mofokeng usually plays as a left-winger while Nkota is preferred and often deployed on the right-hand side of the attack.

Now, what’s left is for all the selected Bafana Bafana to be allocated jersey numbers for the tournament.

MOFOKENG OR NKOTA FOR BAFANA BAFANA’S NO.10 JERSEY AT AFCON?

With Mofokeng having made his return to the Bafana Bafana setup after an injury layoff – see inclusions and omissions – the question is whether or not he will reclaim his No.10 jersey.

In recent games, Nkota wore this ‘heavy’ jersey in Mofokeng’s absence, and did justice to it.

In the last Afcon edition, the No.10 jersey was worn by Percy Tau, who did not have a good tournament despite being one of the senior players.

Now, this means Bafana Bafana will have a new No.10 at this year’s finals as it will be the first Afcon for both Mofokeng and Nkota.

The likelihood of Nkota taking the No.10 jersey from Mofokeng is close to zero given that he has already used different jersey numbers in the past.

And therefore, the speedy left-footer is most likely to wear a different jersey number with Mofokeng keeping the No.10 shirt.

NO MAJOR CHANGES IN SQUAD NUMBERS EXPECTED

Overall, no major changes are expected in Bafana Bafana’s squad numbers as the majority has already been using those numbers.

The likes of Teboho Mokoena (4), Khuliso Mudau (20), Aubrey Modiba (6), Thalente Mbatha (5), Bathusi Aubaas (15) among others will most likely keep their numbers.

Youngsters Tylon Smith and Shandre Campbell will have Bafana Bafana jersey numbers allocated to them for the first time.

Hugo Broos has called up the two 20-year-olds to the squad in order for them to learn and be exposed to this big stage.