Kaizer Chiefs supporters have a bigger role to play for Bafana Bafana to maintain AFCON showing in World Cup qualifiers, suggests Bafana legend Mark Fish.
Bafana have raised expectations ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, where they are yet to play against Nigeria, who knocked them out of the Africa Cup of Nations in the semi-finals.
With different dynamics in qualifying, home support becomes more important in winning home matches and with the division of club support bases in the country, there are concerns around the unity of Bafana support on home soil.
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Chiefs had no players selected in the Bafana squad at AFCON, while Orlando Pirates contributed four players, in a squad dominated by Mamelodi Sundowns, who had ten players.
Former Moroka Swallows and Bidvest Wits midfielder Mark Haskins believes fans in the country need to stop being biased towards supporting Bafana based on how many players are selected from their clubs.
"I think there's still bigger elements that we need to deal with factors that we need to take into account. Unfortunately, in this country club football takes precedence over the national team," Haskins said on SABC News.
"Even when you look at supporters, some supporters won't support the national team if they don't see enough of the players from clubs they support. We don't always unite as a collective, there's too much disunity when it comes to club teams, and it filters through to the national team."
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Fish echoed Haskins' sentiments as he was adamant that supporting Bafana without club allegiances will be key to how they perform in World Cup qualifiers.
"Fans from various clubs, if your players aren't playing in the national team you don't support and I think that needs to be turned around. And hopefully it has with this (AFCON) performance," Fish said on the same platform.
"We need to build on this performance, we have World Cup qualifiers. World Cup qualifiers we play home and away and we'll play our nemesis Nigeria, that is the big challenge to build on this performances from AFCON. Again, the cry will be when we play this World Cup qualifiers, let's fill the stadiums, let's get behind Bafana and I think it's the most important element," he added.
Before Bafana resume World Cup qualifiers in June, they have two international friendlies against Andorra and Algeria in March, both in Algeria.
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