20 May 2018– The Women’s National selections kicked off in great style at the University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park campus on Sunday (20 May 2018) with over 300 girls turning out for trials for Banyana Banyana as well as the South African U17 and U20 Women’s National Teams.
“The turn out was exceptional,” said Assistant Technical Director Fran Hilton-Smith.
“There was great talent on display for Banyana Banyana head coach Desiree Ellis and Basetsana (u20) head coach Maud Khumalo to select from. These are the kind of initiatives that are needed to ensure we get to see all the talent in the country.”
Also in attendance was FIFA goalkeeper coach Alex Heredia and Provincial Technical officers Gae Lepalo and Amilca de Oliviera.
Ten of the Gauteng Provincial selectors were also present at the event, among them Jabulile Baloyi and Keneilwe Mathibela.
“This was the first of the nine provinces to be visited. Each girls received a soccer ball to take home, while the coaches were handed polo shirts, coach’s clipboard, a stop watch and a whistle – all sponsored by the Department of Sport and Recreation South Africa,” added Hilton-Smith.
With so much talent on display, it is hoped the same will happen when the roadshow hits the remaining provinces.
This project is a follow up to last year’s women’s football national selections that were successfully carried out in all nine provinces.
The event takes place over two days (Saturday and Sunday) in each province – with the first day set for Sasol League games where all the teams will be in action in one venue.
The following day (Sunday) has been set aside for talent identification as well as coaching courses for local coaches.
It is expected that the iniative will yield positive results for all the women’s national teams, which will be highly actively this year.
- The U17s have qualified for the World Cup which will be staged in Uruguay from 13 November to 1 December
- The U20s will participate in the Region 5 Games
- Banyana Banyana will face Lesotho in a 2018 CAF Africa Women’s Cup of Nations qualifier – beyond that they have to prepare for that tournament, which will take place in Ghana in December
- The senior team will also play in the COSAFA Cup in September where they are the defending champions.
DATES FOR TALENT ID: (venues to follow)
Gauteng 20 May – UJ Bunting Rd, Auckland Park (Combined with SASOL)
North West 27 May
Mpumalanga 3 June
Eastern Cape 10 June
Free State 17 June
Limpopo 24 June
Western Cape 1 July
KwaZulu Natal 8 July
Northern Cape 15 July