South Africa women's national football team

The South Africa women's national soccer team, nicknamed ''Banyana Banyana'' (The Girls), is the national team of South Africa and is controlled by the South African Football Association.

Their first official match was held on 30 May 1993 against Swaziland.

They qualified for Olympic football for the first time in 2012, and for a FIFA Women's World Cup for the first time in 2019, in Group B with Germany, Spain and China. However, they lost all matches, and their only goal was against Spain when they went to a 1–0 lead only to lose 3–1. South Africa won their first Women's Africa Cup of Nations in 2022, beating Morocco 2–1 in the final.

History

Beginnings

The South Africa women's national team played its first international match...

Historically, South Africa has never had a professional women's football league until 2020. This coincided perfectly with the country's annual celebration of Women's Month — a celebration of women in society.While South Africa may not have had a professional women's league, the country's national setup has flourished.
The national team competes at Under-17 and Under-20 levels. But the senior team — nicknamed “Banyana Banyana” — has represented South Africa in multiple tournaments.These include the COSAFA Women's Championship Cup, African Women's Cup of Nations and, more recently, a debut at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in France.
Despite unfair gender disparities, South Africa's female footballers have attracted interest from professional leagues all over the world.In South Africa, the playing field is not level for young female footballers to rise up through development.But a new semi-professional league, established in 2009, gave women an opportunity to pursue a future in football.The Sasol league consists of 2800 footballers playing in 144 teams across the nine provinces in South Africa.It has made it easy for scouts and the national coaches to assess players.
The league has been steadfast in making sure that women's football thrives in South Africa, despite very little corporate sponsorship.It was therefore humbling to witness the launch of the South African Football Association (SAFA) National Women's League, which signaled a new era.The fully-professional league aims at the development and growth of the game for South Africa.
There is still so much more that still needs to be done. But with 27 players now playing professionally in Europe and the United States, opportunities are aplenty.

Team image

Nicknames

The South Africa women's national football team has been known or nicknamed as the "''Banyana Banyana''", which literally means "Girls Girls". This name is derived from the Senior Men's National team being "''Bafana Bafana''".

Results and fixtures

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

;Legend

2022

2023

Source
Global Sports Archive

Coaching staff

Current coaching staff

Technical staff

Manager history

* Sandile Bali (1995)
* Nomaluno Mooi (1998)
* Fran Hilton-Smith (2000)
* Greg Mashilo (2002–2004)
* August Makalakalane (2006–2011)
* Joseph Mkhonza (2011–2014)
* Vera Pauw (2014–2016)
* Desiree Ellis (2016–present)

Players

Current squad

* This is the final Squad named in October 2022 for friendly game against .
* Caps and goals accurate up to and including day month year.

Recent call ups

* The following players have been called up to a South Africa squad in the past 12 months.

Previous squads

;FIFA Women's World Cup
* 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup squad
;Summer Olympics
* 2012 Summer Olympics squad
* 2016 Summer Olympics squad
;Africa Women Cup of Nations
* 2000 African Women's Championship squad
* 2010 African Women's Championship squad
* 2012 African Women's Championship squad
* 2014 African Women's Championship squad
* 2016 Africa Women Cup of Nations squad
* 2018 Africa Women Cup of Nations squad
* 2022 Africa Women Cup of Nations squad
;COSAFA Women's Championship
* 2020 COSAFA Women's Championship squad
* 2021 COSAFA Women's Championship squad
* 2022 COSAFA Women's Championship squad

Records

* Active players in bold, statistics correct as of 2020.

Most capped players

Top goalscorers

Honours

Continental

*Africa Women Cup of Nations
: Champions: 2022
: ''Runners-up:'' 1995, 2000, 2008, 2012, 2018
: ''Third place:'' 2006, 2010

*African Games
: ''Runners-up:'' 2003, 2007

Regional

*COSAFA Women's Championship
: ''Champions:'' 2002, 2006, 2008, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020
: ''Runners-up:'' 2011

Competitive record

FIFA Women's World Cup

:''*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.''

Olympic Games

:''*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.''

Africa Women Cup of Nations

:''*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.''

African Games

COSAFA Women's Championship

:''*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.''

All−time record against FIFA recognized nations

The list shown below shows the women's South Africa national soccer team's all−time international record against opposing nations.

''*As of xxxxxx after match against xxxx.''
;Key

Record per opponent

''*As ofxxxxx after match against xxxxx.''
;Key

The following table shows South Africa's all-time official international record per opponent:

See also

* Sport in South Africa
** Football in South Africa
*** Women's football in South Africa
; National teams
* South Africa women's national football team
** South Africa women's national football team results
* South Africa women's national under-20 soccer team
* South Africa women's national under-17 soccer team

References

External links

Official websiteFIFA profile

{{National Sports Teams of South Africa

African women's national association football teams