Panama are ranked number 33 in the world, a full 27 places above Bafana (60). The matches will be played on March 27 and 31, thought he venues have not yet been revealed.
Panama qualified for the 2026 World Cup, going unbeaten through the preliminaries with seven victories and three draws, an impressive run.
They have been drawn with England, Croatia and Ghana in a tough Group L at the global finals, so will see these two matches as good preparation to face the Black Stars, who they will likely need to beat to advance as one of the best third-placed sides at least.
They open their campaign against the Ghanaians in Toronto on June 17.
It will not be the first meeting between South Africa and Panama, they also clashed in a 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup quarter-finals and Lungisani Ndlela scored as the match ended 1-1. But when Ricardo Katza saw his post-match penalty saved, Panama advanced.
Panama are unbeaten in their last 12 competitive games (W8 D4), since a 2-1 loss to Mexico in the CONCACAF Nations League final in neutral United States in March 2025.
They reached the quarter-finals of last year’s CONCACAF Gold Cup, but bowed out to Honduras on penalties following a 1-1 draw.
They have played two friendlies this year, drawing 1-1 in Bolivia and suffering a 1-0 home defeat to Mexico. Both of those were last month with depleted squads.
The side is coached by Danish-born Thomas Christiansen, 52, who was a striker in his playing days and won two caps for Spain in 1993.
He was on the books of Barcelona but only ever played for the ‘B’ side, and most notably turned out for Real Oviedo and Villarreal in LaLiga, and then later Bochum in the German Bundesliga.
He managed in Cyprus before a brief stint with then English Championship Leeds United and Union St Gilloise in Belgium, the season after Percy Tau was on loan there.
He was appointed coach of Panama in July 2020 and had a slow start, but qualified the side for their second World Cup finals as they defeated El Salvador 3-0 last November.
Their only other World Cup appearance was in 2018 when they lost all three matches to Belgium (0-3), England (1-6) and Tunisia (1-2).
The side are captained by the highly-experienced midfielder Aníbal Godoy, 35, who plays for San Diego in the United States and has 157 caps, a national team record.
Their players are dotted around the world, but mostly in the United States and Latin America.
Defender Amir Murillo is at Marseille in France and one of a handful based in Europe, along with Andrés Andrade (LASK, Austria), César Blackman (Slovan Bratislava, Slovakia), José Córdoba (Norwich City, England), Roderick Miller (Turan Tovuz, Azerbaijan) and Víctor Griffith (St Johnstone, Scotland).