3 August 2017 – The South African U17 Women’s National Team (Bantwana) has received a bye in the Preliminary round of the Uruguay 2018 FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup qualifiers.

Bantwana will join the competition in the first round where they will meet the winner between Zambia and Botswana – the two nations meet in October.

The South Africans will kickstart their campaign with an away match on the weekend of 1, 2, 3 December, with the second leg scheduled for a fortnight later in South Africa (15, 16, 17 December).

The overall winner will proceed to the third and final round to face one between Morocco and Equatorial Guinea on the first weekend of February 2018.

The return match will be played two weeks later (16, 17, 18 February).

Only three countries will qualify to represent the African continent at the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup which will be held in Uruguay from 20 November to 13 December 2018.

It will be the sixth edition of the tournament, and sixteen countries will take part in the football showpiece.

North Korea are the defending champions after they defeated Japan 5-4 on penaties in Jordan in 2016.

South Africa last qualified for this tournament in 2010 in Trinidad and Tobago under head coach Solly Luvhengo.

They were drawn in Group B and lost all their matches – against Germany (10-1), South Korea (3-1) and Mexico (4-0).

Current Banyana Banyana striker Jermaine Seoposenwe, scored the only two goals in the tournament.

South Africa missed out on the 2014 and 2016 editions.

FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup Fixtures:

First Round:

  1. Win 1-2 vs Tunisia
  2. Tunisia vs Win 1-2
  3. Win 3-4 vs Ghana
  4. Ghana vs Win 3-4
  5. Win 5-6 vs South Africa
  6. South Africa vs Win 5-6
  7. Morocco vs Equatorial Guinea
  8. Equatorial Guinea vs Morocco
  9. Win 7-8 vs Nigeria
  10. Nigeria vs Win 7-8
  11. Win 9-10 vs Cameroon
  12. Cameroon vs Win 9-10

Dates:

Match 1: 1st 2nd or 3rd December 2017

Match II: 15th, 16th or 17th December 2017

Second Round:

  1. Win 11-12 vs Win 13-14
  2. Win 13-14 vs Win 11-12
  3. Win 15-16 vs Win 17-18
  4. Win 17-18 vs Win 15-16
  5. Win 19-20 vs Win 21-22
  6. Win 21-22 vs Win 19-20

Dates:

Match 1: 2nd, 3rd or 4th February 2018

Match II: 16th, 17th or 18th February 2018