South Africa vs Zambia — Friendlies 2026
Match Prediction
Statistical Prediction
Based on goals from last 19+ matches
South Africa57%
Zambia20%✓ Correct in 50 of 100 matches — 5 more than always backing the home side
The model picks a winner (home or away) for each finished match using only pre-kickoff data, then checks it against the real result: 50.2% correct across 585,598 matches, vs 44.5% for always backing the home side.
Home picks 50.5% correct · Away picks 49.3% correct
Football matches only. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Expected goals in this match
What is xG?
Every shot is scored 0–1 by how likely it is to be a goal from that spot — a chance in the middle of the box ≈ 0.4, a long shot from a tight angle ≈ 0.03, a penalty ≈ 0.76. Add them up over a match and that is the xG.
The scoreline can lie: you can win 1-0 on a fluke while creating half the chances. xG shows who was really closer to scoring — and over a season it predicts results better than goals alone.
South Africa creates 86% more chances
Season form · 19 home / 24 away
creates per match
allows per match
finishing
Total goals
- Over51
- Under49
Close call
Both teams score
- Yes51
- No49
Close call
Score probability
Probability of each scoreline, %
South Africa ↓
Most likely 1–0 (12%) · grid covers 97% of scorelines
More markets
Total goals
Double chance
Winning margin
Team goals
Draw no bet
Combos
Model probabilities, not odds. For information only.
How is this calculated?
Every number below comes from this match — nothing is made up.
Recent form of each side
South Africa at home — creates 1.37, concedes 0.68 · 19 matches
Zambia away — creates 1.21, concedes 2.17 · 24 matches
⚑ Home and away form are counted separately — the home-field edge is already baked into these numbers.
Expected goals for this match
South Africa attack 1.37 + Zambia defence 2.17 → ÷2 → 1.77
Zambia attack 1.21 + South Africa defence 0.68 → ÷2 → 0.95
Each side's attack is blended with the other's defence, then averaged.
Chance of every scoreline
From those two numbers a Poisson distribution gives the probability of each exact score — the grid shown above.
The answer to "why 57%?"
South Africa at 57% is simply the biggest of the three — that is the pick.
What the model can't see
It reads only the stats of recent matches. It knows nothing about:
- injuries & suspensions
- the matchday lineup
- motivation — cup, relegation, a title race
- weather & pitch condition
- in-game coaching decisions
So 57% does not mean "South Africa will win" — it means "on the available stats, this is the most likely result."
Statistical model based on expected goals (xG). For informational purposes only.
Match Events
Head to Head
3 previous meetings · small sampleSouth Africa host Zambia on Sunday, 11 October 2020 at 13:00. The match is part of the Friendlies 2026/2027 season.
Match Recap: South Africa vs Zambia
Zambia beat South Africa 2-1 in Friendlies on October 11, 2020.
Goals: K. Dolly (66'), K. Kampamba (78'), C. Zulu (82').
The match was played at Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Phokeng, NW.