South Africa Women's National Football Team

The South Africa women's national football team represents South Africa in women's international soccer and is run by the South African Football Association, the governing body for Soccer in South Africa. Nicknamed Banyana Banyana (The Girls in Sesotho).

South Africa competed in two Olympic Games, two FIFA Women's World Cups, and 14 Women's African Cup of Nations, where they were runners up five times before winning once. They also competed at all 10 COSAFA Women's Championships, where they won seven times, came second thrice and finished in fourth place once.

History

Banyana Banyana's first official match was held on 30 May 1993 against Eswatini, which they won 14–0. Future Women's AFCON winning coach Desiree Ellis played in that game and scored three of the goals

Their first international match outside of Africa was against China. They played two matches which they lost 8–0 and 13–0 with the latter being the heaviest defeat in their history. The team's first victory over a nation outside of Africa was in 2000, where they beat Scotland by 2–0. This was at the Cyrus Women's Cup.

South Africa's biggest win came in a COSAFA Women's Championship match in Gqeberha on 31 July 2019, when they beat the Comoros 17–0. Captain Refiloe Jane scored 4 of the goals.

Olympic Games

They qualified for Olympic football for the first time in 2012, with coach Joseph Mkhonza. Their second Olympic participation was at 2016's Rio Olympics, under coach Vera Pauw.

Women's Africa Cup of Nations

Banyana appeared in 14 CAF Women's Championships (Now known as Women's AFCON) and were runners up on five occasions (1995, 2000, 2008, 2012 and 2018) and third at two events (2006 and 2010), before eventually winning their first Women's Africa Cup of Nations in 2022, beating Morocco 2–1 in the final.

FIFA Women's World Cup

Coached by Desiree Ellis, they qualified for their first FIFA Women's World Cup 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 qualified for the FIFA Women's World Cup again in 2023, also coached by Desiree Ellis. During the group stages they lost 2–1 to Sweden after leading 1–0, drew 2–2 against Argentina after leading 2–0, but finally defeated Italy 3–2 and advanced to the Round of 16 for the very first time. They eventually lost 2–0 to the Netherlands. Following the team's performance, Desiree Ellis would win the 2023 award for CAF Women's Coach of the Year.

The top goal scorers at world cups are Thembi Kgatlana with 3, Hildah Magaia with 2, while Linda Motlhalo also scored one. South Africa's other goal was an own goal by Italy in 2023.

COSAFA Women's Championship

South Africa competed in all eleven COSAFA Women's Championships – a tournament featuring nations from the Southern African region – since its inception in 2002. They have won seven titles (in 2002, 2006, 2008, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020), finished second twice (in 2011 and 2022) and only failed to win a medal twice, when they finished fourth in 2021 and exited in the group stages 2023.

In later years, because of South Africa's success and increased participation in bigger world events, management started sending newcomers to COSAFA tournaments, to broaden their talent pool. This contributed to a decline in Banyana Banyana's dominance at this event.

Team image

Nicknames

The South Africa women's national football team has been known or nicknamed as the "''Banyana Banyana''", which literally translates to "Girls Girls", but such double use is often interpreted to mean "all the girls". In the context of sport, it is also understood to mean "go girls, go girls".

This name is derived from the Senior Men's National team being "''Bafana Bafana''" which also literally means "the boys the boys". The nickname came into existence from fans shouting "bafana bafana" to mean "go boys, go boys" as encouragement during the South Africa men's team's first international game after many years of sporting isolation due to Apartheid policies in 1992, when they beat Cameroon 1–0 in Durban. The name stuck, and the female form was later applied to the women's team as well.

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

2024

2025

Coaching staff

Current coaching staff

Technical staff

Manager history

Players

Current Squad

The following players were called up for the two friendlies against and on 28 May and 3 June 2025.

''Caps and goals are correct as of 8 April 2025, after the match against .''

Recent call ups

The following players were called up to the squad within the past 12 months.

;Notes (Append to Name)

* = Withdrew due to illness
* = Withdrew due to injury
* = Preliminary squad / on stand-by

* = Retired from National team

Previous squads

;FIFA Women's World Cup
* 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup squad
* 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup squads
;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
* 2023 COSAFA Women's Championship squad
* 2024 COSAFA Women's Championship squad
;Turkish Women's Cup
* 2023 Turkish Women's Cup squads

Records

* Active players in bold, statistics correct as of 2025.

Most capped players

Top goalscorers

Honours

Major competitions

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

Continental

* African Games¹
** ''Runners-up:'' 2003, 2007

Regional

* COSAFA Women's Championship
** ''Champions:'' 2002, 2006, 2008, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020
** ''Runners-up:'' 2011, 2022

# Competition organized by the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa, officially not recognized by FIFA.

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
* South Africa women's national under-15 soccer team

References

External links

Official websiteFIFA profile

{{National Sports Teams of South Africa

African women's national association football teams