South African forward Tristan van Gilst has started the 2026/27 season in blistering form in the Netherlands and he’s opened up exclusively to iDiski Times about his desire to represent Bafana Bafana.
Van Gilst, 23, has been on the radar of the South African Football Association (SAFA) in recent years, since turning professional with De Graafschap and now at Heracles.
Prior to that, the dual national represented PEC Zwolle and AFC Amsterdam in his development days and has now been turning heads with his current club.
With 11 goals and three assists in the opening 14 games of the season, van Gilst has been in sublime form, bagging a hat-trick in his most recent game in the 5-1 win over Roda JC before the international break.
iDiski Times had an exclusive interview with the Amsterdam-born talent to find out more about his connection to South Africa and what the future beckons.
“Well, my mother is South African, so she met my father in South Africa when she was like 27. And then after a few years they decided to live in Holland. So yes, yeah, well basically my mother is fully South African,” he told iDiski Times.
“I grew up bilingual. So that’s also a big very big thing for me that my mother teaches me that because I always had the the ability to speak proper English and she learned me that from a baby.
“So that’s obviously that’s but that’s a little thing for me, but it means a lot because that also reminds me of where my roots are. But yes, I have a lot of contact with my family from that side when I was like five to 15, we went every year there [to be with our family].”
Why The Desire For Bafana?
Van Gilst admits the national team ambitions is something recent as he was focused on establishing himself at club level, but talks amongst his family grew and his aims is to maintain his form and keep fighting for a place in the national team set-up as he officially declared the desire to represent Bafana.
“I think it first started when I think my granny or my uncles got messages about me potentially playing for Bafana Bafana. I never thought of it… with national teams I wasn’t really busy [thinking about] it because I was I was like I’m not at the level yet to play for the national team,” he said.
“I always knew I [was eligible] for South Africa and it would obviously an honour, but when first came the messages to my family, like doesn’t Tristan wanna play for Bafana Bafana? Then it was a moment like it really it really lit a little fire in me, like I want this – and it’s something I want to do.”
Van Gilst had his first season in the Eredivisie in the 2025/26 season and is well on course for a swift return with Heracles six points clear at the summit of the Eerste Divisie.