Women's soccer in South Africa

Women's soccer in South Africa
Banyana Banyana's XI at the 2022 WAFCON
CountrySouth Africa
Governing bodySouth African Football Association
National team(s)Women's national team

Women's U/20 team
Women's U/17 team

Women's U/15 team
Nickname(s)Banyana Banyana (senior national team)

Basetsana (U/20)

Bantwana (U/17)
Clubs160
National competitions
Club competitions
International competitions

Women's soccer began in South Africa during the 1960s and gained popularity in the 1990s, when the first national women's team was formed.[1][2]

History

[edit]

South African women's soccer started in 1960 during the Apartheid era. Orlando Pirates Women's Football Club and Mother City Girls were among the first women's soccer clubs formed in 1962.[3]

National league

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Sanlam National Women's Football League was set up in the late 1990s with the goal of increasing the number of women in soccer administration and a second season was played in 2002.[4]

In 2009, a semi-professional women's football league the Sasol Women's League was established with the aim of developing the women's game.[5]

In 2012, the Ministry of Sports and Recreation called for the creation of a women's football league after the national women's football team, Banyana Banyana, returned from the 2012 Olympic Games without a single win.[6]

2019-present:SAFA Women's National League

[edit]

In August 2019, the inaugural SAFA Women's National League was launched.[7] The following teams formed part of the 12 team league. They consisted of the nine provincial winners that took part in the 2018 Sasol League National Championship and three teams invited to join the league.

Team Province
Thunderbirds Ladies Eastern Cape
Bloemfontein Celtics Ladies Free State
Tsunami Queens*
Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies* Gauteng
TUT Ladies
UJ Ladies*
Durban Ladies Kwa-Zulu Natal
First Touch Limpopo
Coal City Wizards Mpumalanga
Richmond United Northern Cape
Golden Ladies North West
UWC Ladies Western Cape

*invited teams

Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies won the inaugural season undefeated with 21 wins and 1 draw.

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies (C) 22 21 1 0 83 13 +70 64 Champions League
2 TUT Ladies 22 17 4 1 83 26 +57 55
3 Bloemfontein Celtic Ladies 22 13 5 4 55 25 +30 44
4 First Touch 22 10 6 6 54 44 +10 36
5 Coal City Wizards 22 8 8 6 38 38 0 32
6 UWC Ladies 22 7 9 6 46 27 +19 30
7 Durban Ladies 22 8 2 12 32 52 −20 26
8 UJ Ladies 22 8 2 12 35 57 −22 26
9 Golden Ladies 22 4 5 13 25 45 −20 17
10 Thunderbirds Ladies 22 4 4 14 29 63 −34 16
11 Richmond United 22 4 2 16 24 69 −45 14
12 Tsunami Queens 22 2 4 16 21 66 −45 10
Source: [1]

(C) Champion

A copy of the match results of the inaugural season.[8]

Home \ Away BCL CCW DBN FT GDL MSD RMU TBL TUT TQ UJ UWC
Bloemfontein Celtics Ladies 5–0 2–1 1–3 3–2 0–1 1–1 4–2 0–2 3–0 6–1 0–0
Coal City Wizards 1–1 1–1 2–2 3–2 1–4 3–2 3–0 0–2 2–1 2–0 2–2
Durban Ladies 0–6 2–1 3–2 3–2 0–3 3–1 4–1 1–6 0–1 1–2 0–5
First Touch 2–2 2–2 4–1 4–0 2–3 6–1 4–1 2–4 3–1 2–4 2–1
Golden Ladies 0–2 0–0 0–1 1–1 1–4 4–2 4–1 1–8 2–0 0–1 1–4
Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies 3–0 4–1 3–1 11–1 3–1 7–0 6–0 2–1 8–0 3–2 3–0
Richmond United 2–5 0–1 2–3 1–5 0–1 0–1 3–2 0–8 1–1 0–3 1–8
Thunderbirds Ladies 0–4 4–3 1–1 0–2 1–1 0–6 2–3 1–2 3–1 2–3 0–0
TUT Ladies 1–1 2–2 3–2 3–1 2–1 1–1 2–0 5–2 7–2 3–2 2–2
Tsunami Queens 0–3 0–5 1–0 0–2 0–0 1–2 1–2 3–4 1–6 3–3 0–5
UJ Ladies 3–4 1–2 3–4 1–1 1–0 0–3 2–1 0–1 0–10 2–1 0–2
UWC Ladies 0–2 1–1 2–0 1–1 1–1 0–2 0–1 1–1 2–3 3–3 6–1
Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: [2]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Pyramid system

[edit]

When the SAFA Women's League started in 2019 as the level 1 division, it displaced the Sasol Women's League to level 2 and the SAFA Women's Regional League to level 3. The Sasol Women's League still serves as a provincial league with the nine provincial SAFA's overseeing their respective league. The SAFA Women's Regional League serves as the third division and is overseen by the Local Football Associations (LFAs).They are currently 52 regions across South Africa's nine provinces. Each LFA champion then competes in a single-location provincial SAFA Regional Championship to crown the team that will be promoted to the provincial league.[9]

Level League
1 SAFA Women's League

(16 teams)

2 Sasol Women's League

(144 teams)

3 SAFA Women's Regional League

Youth Leagues

[edit]

SAFA announced its provincial members would be setting up girls youth leagues around the country in order to improve girls soccer in the country as the youth national teams were struggling. By 2024, Basetsana had not qualified for the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup and Bantwana had last qualified in 2018. The U/15 Girls Inter-LFA League was launched in 2023 in the Limpopo province.[10] In the Gauteng province, the Gauteng Women's Development League was launched with the inaugural season being an U/15 league only. In 2024, the league had switched to two divisions for U/16 and U/14 girls.[11]

The launch of the girls youth leagues also coincided the launch of a new national team. The South Africa women's national U/15 team. In 2022 and 2023 the team won the COSAFA Schools Cup.[12] In 2024 they won their maiden CAF African Schools Football Championship.[13]

In September 2024, SAFA held the inaugural U15 Talent Development Scheme (TDS) Girls interprovincial championship with all nine provinces selecting a team to represent them. Gauteng won the first edition after defeating the Western Cape 2–1 in the final held at Panorama Football Club, in Roodepoort.[14] The aim of this tournament is to identify players to be monitored by national scouts for the U/15 team and eventually the U/17 team.

National teams

[edit]
Main articles: South Africa women's national football team, South Africa women's national under-20 soccer team, and South Africa women's national under-17 soccer team

South Africa women's national football team, nicknamed "Banyana Banyana" has been participating in international soccer since 1993, when they beat Swaziland 14–0 on 30 May of that year. This is their biggest win to date.[15]

South Africa women's national under-20 team, is nicknamed "Basetsana".

Banyana Banyana starting XI at the 2022 Women's Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.

South Africa women's national under-17 soccer team, nicknamed "Bantwana".

The teams are controlled by the South African Football Association.

International participation

[edit]

They have been competing in the CAF Women's Championship since 1995. They qualified for the Olympic Games for the first time at the 2012 Olympic Games.[16] Banyana Banyana won their first Women's Africa Cup of Nations, when they defeated hosts Morocco 2–1 in the 2022 final.[17][18]

Banyana Banyana made their FIFA Women's World Cup debut in 2019. At the 2023 edition, they became the first South African team to qualify for the knockout stages at a world cup by reaching the round of 16.[19]

Bantwana made their FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup debut in 2010. Bantwana made their second appearance at the 2018 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup. They have not made it past the group stages on the tournament.

Bantwana hold the African record for most goals in an international match. They scored 28 goals (won 28–0) against Seychelles in the opening match of group B at the 2019 COSAFA U-17 Women's Championship.[20]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Competition and Player Development  : A comparison between South America and Germany" (PDF). Cies.ch. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  2. ^ Cynthia Fabrizio Pelak. "Women and gender in South African soccer: a brief history" (PDF). History.msu.edu. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  3. ^ "Football in South Africa Timeline 1862–2012". www.sahistory.org. Archived from the original on 23 April 2014. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  4. ^ "Women's soccer gets fired up". Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
  5. ^ "About Sasol League". Sasol In Sport. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  6. ^ "SA needs professional women's soccer league – Mbalula". www.citypress.co.za. Archived from the original on 14 July 2013. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  7. ^ "Safa launches Women's National League | Goal.com South Africa". www.goal.com. 22 August 2019. Retrieved 27 March 2024.
  8. ^ Inqaku. "League - SAFA Women's National League Group 1A | Inqaku". inqaku.com. Retrieved 27 March 2024.
  9. ^ "SAFA Regional Women's League - SAFA.net". 30 March 2017. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  10. ^ Munyai, Ofhani (21 November 2023). "SAFA opens doors for young talent with U/15 Girls Inter-LFA League". FARPost. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  11. ^ Pongco, Siya (13 February 2024). "SuperSport Schools Plus | Gauteng Women's football entering a new phase of success". SuperSport Schools Plus. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  12. ^ "South Africa get a double victory at CAF African Schools Football Championship COSAFA Qualifiers". South Africa get a double victory at CAF African Schools Football Championship COSAFA Qualifiers. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  13. ^ "Tanzania, South Africa crowned CAF African Schools Football Champions in Zanzibar". Tanzania, South Africa crowned CAF African Schools Football Champions in Zanzibar. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  14. ^ "Gauteng girls crowned inaugural U15 TDS Girls Interprovincial Champions - SAFA.net". 24 September 2024. Retrieved 26 September 2024.
  15. ^ "Senior National Women's Team". South African Football Association. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  16. ^ "Banyana qualify for London Olympics". mg.co.za. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  17. ^ "South Africa beat Morocco to win first Wafcon title". BBC Sport. Retrieved 23 July 2023.
  18. ^ Howorth, Alasdair; CNN, for (27 July 2023). "Banyana Banyana: How South Africa emerged from apartheid to shine on the world stage". CNN. {{cite web}}: |last2= has generic name (help)
  19. ^ "South Africa to face Netherlands in Round of 16". CAF. 8 March 2023. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  20. ^ "South Africa U-17 women thrash Seychelles 28-0". BBC Sport. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
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