South Africa have been three-time winners of the COSAFA Castle Cup but have also found the going tough at times in the regional championship.
Bafana Bafana were first champions in 2002, before winning back-to-back titles in 2007 and 2008, the latter victory under coach Serame Letsoaka.
They have met every one of their COSAFA rivals down the years bar the Comoros Islands, who they will again not face in 2016 after the team opted out of competing in the COSAFA Castle Cup to be staged in Namibia from June 11-25.
South Africa have held the upper hand against all but two of those rivals, and have even gone undefeated against four-time winners Zambia in ordinary play.
Somewhat surprisingly, it was not until 2005 that Bafana first clashed with Chipolopolo, that match ending in a 0-0 draw, though Zambia did claim the post-match penalties 9-8 in a thrilling shoot-out.
Still, the record books dictate the result be recorded as a stalemate.
They then defeated Zambia on penalties after another 0-0 draw in final of the 2007 COSAFA Castle Cup, before recording a 1-0 victory a year later in the semifinals as Lefa Tsutsulupa got the only goal of the game.
Their most recent meeting with Zambia was a third 0-0 draw in the semifinals in 2013 that Chipolopolo won on penalties.
Meetings with another powerhouse from the region, Zimbabwe, have been far less memorable for South Africa as they have yet to win in their three previous clashes.
A pair of 1-0 losses to the Warriors saw the team eliminated from the competition in 2000 and 2003, before they met again in Harare in a game that finished 1-1 but saw Zimbabwe triumph 3-2 on penalties.
No other team has a positive win-loss ratio against South Africa, though Mozambique have won one and lost one of their two clashes down the years.
Zimbabwe (GF3 GA1) are also the only side that have scored more goals against South Africa than they have conceded.
In terms of their most frequent opponents down the years, South Africa have met both Botswana (W2 D3) and Malawi (W2 D2 L1) on five occasions each.
They could be on course to meet Malawi again if The Flames win Group B at the 2016 COSAFA Castle Cup in Namibia, with South Africa waiting for the top team in that pool in the quarterfinals.
They would only meet Botswana again if both teams either ended up in the final or third-place play-off.
There are three sides that South Africa have met on four occasions previously – Mauritius (W3 L1), Namibia (W2 D1 L1) and Zambia (W1 D3).
South Africa have managed the most goals against Swaziland (seven in three games) but conceded the most against Namibia (five in four games) in the COSAFA Castle Cup.
Their overall record against all opposition in the competition reads P35 W18 D11 L6 GF42 GA19.
S AFRICA’S RECORD AGAINST OPPONENTS IN THE COSAFA CASTLE CUP
BOTSWANA
P W D L GF GA
5 2 3 0 3 1
MALAWI
P W D L GF GA
5 2 2 1 4 2
MAURITIUS
P W D L GF GA
4 3 0 1 6 2
NAMIBIA
P W D L GF GA
4 2 1 1 6 5
ZAMBIA
P W D L GF GA
4 1 3 0 3 2
SWAZILAND
P W D L GF GA
3 3 0 0 7 1
ZIMBABWE
P W D L GF GA
3 0 1 2 1 3
MADAGASCAR
P W D L GF GA
2 1 1 0 2 1
MOZAMBIQUE
P W D L GF GA
2 1 0 1 3 1
SEYCHELLES
P W D L GF GA
1 1 0 0 3 0
ANGOLA
P W D L GF GA
1 1 0 0 2 0
LESOTHO
P W D L GF GA
1 1 0 0 2 1
