8 June 2017 – The nationwide talent search for players to be part of the South African U17 and U20 Women’s National Teams is continuing in earnest.

This exciting project, led by the South African Football Association (SAFA), started earlier this month when they visited KwaZulu Natal, and it was a resounding success.

It will continue throughout the months of June, July and August whereby high level SAFA Women National coaches as well as selectors, will travel across all the provinces.

Each province was requested to identify two to three teams for each age group comprising their best overall talent.

The target is to get players for Abantwana (SA U17) who are born 2001/2002, as well as for Basetsana (SA U20) who are born 1998/1999/2000. There scouts will also be on the lookout for individuals, who are 13.14 years old and are good enough for the 2018 intake at the High Performance Centre (HPC).

“With the all-important FIFA U17 and U20 Women’s World Cup tournaments taking place in 2018, these trials are vital to South African Women’s football in terms of short-term (World Cup qualifiers) as well as long-term strategic goals, dove-tailing into SAFA’s well documented Vision 2022 objectives,” said Fran Hilton-Smith, SAFA Assistant Technical Director.

“Qualification for the above-mentioned tournaments is also key to the Senior Women’s National Team Banyana Banyana. Exposure to high-level competition and the experience of junior World Cups can only bode well for the Senior Team. Identifying new talent will bolster and add to the growing data-base of promising players to choose from. This is the first talent identification of its kind for women’s football and will ensure that we have seen all possible candidates for the respective national teams and HPC.”

This weekend the search moves to Gauteng on Saturday, 10 June.

(trials commence at 09h00 on the respective dates):

10 June                   Gauteng

17 June                   Western Cape

24 June                   Eastern Cape

1 July                       North West

8 July                       Northern Cape

5 August                 Free State

12 August              Mpumalanga

19 August              Limpopo