South Africa is located at the southernmost point of the African continent. It is also one of the largest and most populous countries in Africa. Regardless of their cultural backgrounds, millions of its citizens often come together for only one simple reason: their shared passion for sports.
That is why you will find activities like sports betting, and brands like Betway South Africa loved much here. Specifically, rugby, cricket, and soccer are the most popular sports in South Africa. Athletics, tennis, basketball, golf, and boxing are other sports that have a large following.
Football stars like Bennic McCarthy, Steven Pienaar, and Aron Mokoena, who have all played for international clubs, come from South Africa. On the same note, the Springboks, the South African rugby national team, has performed exceptionally well on the global stage, winning the 1995, 2007, & 2019 world cups.
Below are details of sportspeople and sporting events in South Africa:
South African Sporting Success
Rugby World Cup (RWC) winners 1995, 2007, and 2019
Popular Sports in South Africa
Soccer, Rugby Union, Cricket, golf, athletics, basketball, and tennis
Traditional sports of South Africa
- Jukskei – a South African folk sport in which players throw wooden pins at a target peg with the aim of knocking it down.
- Ringball – a low key version of netball.
Renowned athletes from South Africa
- Gary Player (golf)
- Zola Budd (athletics)
- Ernie Els (golf)
- Kepler Wessels (cricket).
Past major sporting events held in South Africa
- Rugby World Cup (1995)
- African Cup of Nations (1996)
- Joint host for the cricket world cup with Zimbabwe and Kenya in 2003
- 2007 Men’s T20 World Cup (2007)
- FIFA World Cup (2010).
Annual sporting events hosted by South Africa
Comrades Marathon – an 89 km ultra-marathon which is run between Durban city and Pietermaritzburg.
Another event worth mentioning is the Saddle Seat World which South Africa hosts every four years. It is usually the highest level of competition for riders that compete in Saddle Seat Equitation.
Upcoming major sporting events in South Africa
- Netball World Cup (2023).
- 2027 cricket World Cup co-hosted with Namibia and Zimbabwe.
World-class sporting facilities in South Africa
- Soccer City (Johannesburg)
- Sports Science Institute of South Africa
- Ellis Park (Johannesburg)
- Free State Stadium (Bloemfontein)
- Greenpoint Stadium (Cape Town)
- Loftus Versveld (Pretoria)
- Nelson Mandela Stadium (Port Elizabeth)
- Peter Mokaba Stadium (Polokwane)
- Royal Bafokeng Stadium (Rustenburg)
- Moses Mabhida Stadium (Durban)
- Mbombela Stadium (Nelspruit).
South Africa sports trivia
- Jukskei is a South African folk sport that dates back over 270 years.
- Sanctions kept South Africa out of the international sports scene for most of the apartheid era.
Is there anything that we are missing? Please let us know in the comment section.