South Africa

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.

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