Bafana lose out on Serie A defender?

After Corrie Ndaba, of South African descent, was called up by the Republic of Ireland for the first time, KickOff looked at whether the 26-year-old can ever switch to Bafana Bafana.

Ndaba, born to a South African father and an Irish mother, was born in Ireland and made his breakthrough in professional football at English side Ipswich Town youth ranks.

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After being unable to make it into the first team, the left-back went out on loan for multiple seasons before being signed by Scottish outfit Kilmarnock in July 2024.

After just one season in the Scottish Premiership, Ndaba earned a move to Italian Serie A club Lecce, where reports started to emerge that he is eligible for Bafana Bafana, as he was not yet capped at senior national level.

South Africa could be losing out on a quality player, as the Lecce defender was named for the first time in the Republic of Ireland's 24-man squad for friendly matches against Qatar and Canada on the 28th of May and 6 June, respectively.

FIFA has somewhat ruled the rules on the switch of nationalities from their seventh Congress in 2020, as previously, players were tied to a nation once they have earned a senior cap in a competitive match (not a friendly) of that particular member association.

The general rule on the switch of nationalities still states that any player who has participated, either in part or in full, in a competitive match of a particular nation may not play an international match of another association (friendly matches do not count as a competitive match).

However, there are exceptions to this rule, which state that a player may switch a nationality if he has not been fielded more than three times in competitive games, that is, at a FIFA World Cup or continental tournaments (not qualifiers).

Another exception is that a player may switch a nationality if he has spent more than three years since his last appearance for the nation he wants to change from.

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There are also exceptions regarding players who have not yet turned 21.

As things stand, there is still time for Ndaba to switch to Bafana, should he have the desire or should South Africa show interest.