Sports

The main sports in South Africa are soccer, rugby, cricket, boxing and lawn bowls. Other sports with significant support are swimming, golf and netball. Basketball, surfing and skateboarding are popular among the youth.

Famous boxing personalities include Baby Jake Jacob Matlala, Vuyani Bungu, Welcome Ncita, Dingaan Thobela, Gerrie Coetzee and Brian Mitchell. Football players who have excelled in international clubs include Lucas Radebe of Leeds United and Quinton Fortune, formerly of Manchester United, Benni McCarthy and Aaron Mokoena of Blackburn Rovers and Steven Pienaar of Everton. South Africa produced Formula 1 motor racing’s 1979 world champion Jody Scheckter.

South Africa hosted and won the 1995 Rugby World Cup at their first attempt and again won the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France. South Africa was only allowed to participate from 1995 since the end of Apartheid. It followed the 1995 Rugby World Cup by hosting and winning the 1996 African Cup of Nations football tournament. It also hosted the 2003 Cricket World Cup and the 2007 World Twenty20 Championship. South Africa will be the host nation for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, which will be the first time the tournament is held on the African continent.