Head to head

Nigeria vs South Africa

If they played today

Nigeria at home

60% / 22% / 18%

Nigeria win / draw / South Africa win

Nigeria–South Africa

1–0 11.5%
2–0 10.8%
1–1 10.5%
2–1 9.9%
3–0 6.8%

Neutral venue

52% / 24% / 24%

Nigeria win / draw / South Africa win

Nigeria–South Africa

1–1 11.5%
1–0 11.0%
2–1 9.7%
2–0 9.2%
0–1 6.9%

South Africa at home

44% / 26% / 30%

Nigeria win / draw / South Africa win

Nigeria–South Africa

1–1 12.2%
1–0 10.3%
2–1 9.0%
0–1 8.3%
2–0 7.6%

Probabilities come from each team's current Elo rating, so they answer “if they met today” rather than predicting a scheduled fixture. See the methodology for how the model works and where it is weakest.

Elo since debut

Side by side

	Nigeria	South Africa
Current Elo	1883	1694
Elo rank	26th	66th
Peak Elo	1896 (2006)	1792 (1996)
Matches played	661	484
All-time record	311W 192D 158L	216W 146D 122L
Goals for	1008	652
Goals against	662	458
Biggest win	10–0 vs São Tomé and Príncipe · 2022-06-13 · African Cup of Nations qualification	8–0 vs Australia · 1955-09-17 · Friendly
Biggest loss	0–7 vs Ghana · 1955-10-30 · Friendly	3–9 vs Netherlands · 1958-11-12 · Friendly
World Cups won	0	0
Expected World Cups	0.08	0.02
African Cup of Nations won	3	1
Expected African Cup of Nations	2.40	0.71

When they've met

Meetings

Nigeria 7W 8D 2L

Goals

25–12

Nigeria first

First meeting

4–0

Nigeria won · 1992-10-10 · FIFA World Cup qualification

Most recent

1–1

Drawn · 2025-09-09 · FIFA World Cup qualification

Nigeria's biggest win

4–0

2004-01-31 · African Cup of Nations

South Africa's biggest win

2–0

2017-06-10 · African Cup of Nations qualification

Most common result

1–1

Nigeria first · 5 times, last 2025-09-09

Current run

Unbeaten in 5

Nigeria · since 2018-11-17

17 meetings

Date	Score	Venue	Competition
2025-09-09	1–1	South Africa home	FIFA World Cup qualification
2024-06-07	1–1	Nigeria home	FIFA World Cup qualification
2024-02-07	1–1	Neutral	African Cup of Nations
2019-07-10	2–1	Neutral	African Cup of Nations
2018-11-17	1–1	South Africa home	African Cup of Nations qualification
2017-06-10	0–2	Nigeria home	African Cup of Nations qualification
2015-03-29	1–1	South Africa home	Friendly
2014-11-19	2–2	Nigeria home	African Cup of Nations qualification
2014-09-10	0–0	South Africa home	African Cup of Nations qualification
2013-08-14	2–0	South Africa home	Friendly
2008-09-06	1–0	South Africa home	FIFA World Cup qualification
2008-06-01	2–0	Nigeria home	FIFA World Cup qualification
2004-11-17	1–2	South Africa home	Friendly
2004-01-31	4–0	Neutral	African Cup of Nations
2000-02-10	2–0	Nigeria home	African Cup of Nations
1993-01-16	0–0	South Africa home	FIFA World Cup qualification
1992-10-10	4–0	Nigeria home	FIFA World Cup qualification