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Claim: Different Facebook users alleged that South African goalkeeper Ronwen Williams criticised other African countries for supporting Mexico instead of South Africa during the 2026 World Cup opening match.
Verdict: False! There is no verified video, audio, or news report from any major global news outlet covering the World Cup that supports this claim. Legitimate post-match interviews with the South African goalkeeper show him discussing tactical details and his team’s performance exclusively, with no mention of a lack of support from other African countries.
Full Text
The recent xenophobic attacks against Ghanaians and other Africans living in South Africa had earlier prompted Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to evacuate about 1,000 citizens back home as of June 6, 2026.
The bilateral friction spilt over into the football scene, affecting the continental support base of the Bafana Bafana team at the 2026 World Cup opener, where they conceded two unanswered goals to the Mexican team.
Amid all the trolling, a statement allegedly made by South African goalkeeper Ronwen Williams began circulating widely. The claim stated that Mr Ronwen accused supporters from other African countries of supporting non-African football teams against the South African squad.
The quote was shared by one of the social media handles of Ghana’s national broadcaster, GTV Sports+ (archived here). The post attracted over 300 reactions, more than 99 comments, and about 11 shares before it got deleted.
Other prominent media organisations shared similar posts, including Accra-based private radio station Class FM here (archived) and here (archived), and Wa-based private radio station Home Radio (archived here).
Prominent Ghanaian sports personalities, including the BBC’s George Addo Jr (archived here) and former TV3 sports journalist Thierry Nyann (archived here), also shared the quote. Nyann’s post drew more than 2,400 reactions, over 700 comments, and 110 shares, while Addo Jr.’s post attracted more than 4,700 reactions, 2,200 comments, and over 170 shares.
Many users, believing the quote to be genuine, left comments mocking the South African goalkeeper’s alleged criticism.
Qwabena Isaac wrote, “When he goes back home and asks his family members, he will understand.”
Hon Tahiru Osmani wrote, “Even if South Africa was playing alone in the stadium, I would support the stadium.”
Nuhu Salifu Selanwiah Dimah wrote, “Maybe he should channel his energy to call his brothers and sisters in SA to order.”
The virality of the claim made DUBAWA carry out a fact check.
Verification
Using a keyword search, DUBAWA found no articles, videos, or audio reports by any Ghanaian, African, or other foreign news platform covering the 2026 World Cup that confirmed any part of the comments attributed to the South African goalkeeper.
A reverse image search on the photo used in some posts, showing Ronwen standing in front of the 2026 World Cup press backdrop, returned two videos.
The first, published on the Instagram account @officialsportytv, shows a reporter questioning Ronwen about the game’s mechanics. The video (archived here) is captioned, “Despite the defeat, Ronwen Williams is proud of the Bafana Bafana’s performance.” At no point in the video does the goalkeeper mention a lack of African support as a factor in his team’s loss, nor does he express any concern about it.
The second video, published on Instagram by @soccerbeatza and credited to the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), is captioned, “Bafana captain Ronwen Williams shares his thoughts after his team’s loss to Mexico.” In this interview (archived here), which runs for just over two minutes, the Bafana Bafana captain speaks only about the team’s performance and his reaction to the result. Again, he makes no comment about a lack of support from other African countries.
DUBAWA traced the video to SABC’s sports channel, where the original footage (archived here) is available on Facebook. The full two-minute, 31-second video contained no comments about a lack of support from African countries.
A separate article published on SABC’s website, covering the post-match conversation with Williams, also made no mention of such comments.
DUBAWA additionally checked FIFA’s official YouTube channel, where two videos of the official post-match press conference following the Mexico-South Africa opener had been published. The videos, running 8:11 and 8:14 minutes, respectively, featured other South African players but did not include the goalkeeper.
DUBAWA also reached out to Nathan Quao, a Ghanaian sports journalist with Sporty FM and TV, who said he could not confirm the quote either.
“I haven’t heard any audio to confirm these quotes. The only audio I have heard is Williams’ comments on the team’s performance and the error that led to the first goal,” he said.
Conclusion
There is no evidence that South African goalkeeper, Ronwen Williams, made any statement criticising other African countries for backing Mexico over South Africa in the 2026 World Cup opener. A review of available post-match interviews and press conferences shows him speaking only about his team’s performance and the goal that cost them the match. The widely shared quote is false.
This report was produced under the 2026 Kwame Karikari Fact-checking and OSINT Fellowship, co-hosted by DUBAWA and the Digital Technology, Artificial Intelligence, and Information Disorder Analysis Centre (DAIDAC), with support from the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID).
