Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis laments delayed Wafcon on the back of Olympics heartbreak

South Africa’s senior women’s soccer side, better known by their Banyana Banyana moniker, qualified for the 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) almost a year ago.

Despite this, the defending champions have to wait another nine months before they can defend their crown. The Wafcon was originally scheduled to take place in 2024 before being inexplicably postponed to July 2025.

Morocco was granted the right to host once more, with this confirmed back in 2022, just after the North African nation had successfully hosted that year’s edition. That was the year Banyana Banyana finally broke their Wafcon duck.

On the back of that memorable Wafcon and an exhilarating 2023 Fifa World Cup campaign (where they reached the round of 16) Desiree Ellis and her charges were excited to build on their momentum this year by defending their title as African queens.

However, the tournament was postponed until next year. The official line from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) was that it clashed with the Olympic Games.

“We are supposed to play [Wafcon] this year. But we have teams engaged in the Olympics, so we have to find another date. Scheduling is a nightmare for everybody,” Véron Mosengo-Omba, CAF’s secretary-general, told the BBC earlier this year.

Disappointment

Ellis, whose team missed out on Olympic qualification after being felled by old foes Nigeria in the final round of qualifiers, said the postponement of the tournament was frustrating.

“It was very disappointing. We were preparing for [it],” Ellis told Daily Maverick after announcing her squad for two international friendlies, against Denmark and European champions England later this month.

“But we did not lose anything by preparing. It just gives us a little bit more time to look at more players. A little bit more time to prepare even better. For another year, we are still the champions. That’s also a bit more of positivity,” said the Banyana Banyana coach.

Though Ellis was diplomatic in conveying Banyana Banyana’s disappointment, the postponement has left the women’s soccer community questioning whether CAF is fully invested in growing the sport.

Although men’s Afcons have been delayed for various reasons, it was never by more than a year after every participating team had been confirmed.

Yet by the time Banyana and the 11 other Wafcon qualifiers play next July, almost two years would have passed since they qualified in December 2023. Back in 2020, Wafcon was scrapped because of Covid. By contrast, the men’s 2021 edition was merely postponed to a year later.

Olympic heartbreak

Banyana Banyana’s fairytale two-year run was rudely halted after they failed to qualify for this year’s Olympics in Paris.

The team had looked to build on winning the 2022 Wafcon and, in 2023, becoming the first senior South African soccer side to qualify for the knockouts of a World Cup. However, it was not to be as they were undone by the Super Falcons.

“That was a big disappointment. Not just for us as a group, but for the whole country. We did everything we possibly could. But we were not playing just any team, we were playing Nigeria, who is the number one team on the African continent,” said Ellis.

“That doesn’t make the pain any less, especially also having missed out on the previous Olympic Games. It was tough watching on TV after we missed out. But we can use that to really push us for the next competition, which is the Wafcon.”

As part of their preparations, Banyana will travel to Europe, where they play against Denmark on 25 October in Aalborg, after which they travel to the UK to face reigning European champions England on 29 October.

“Against both teams we must go back to being defensively organised. We were a team that conceded very few goals. We’re still a team that concedes very few goals, but have to become even tighter. Even in terms of scoring goals, we’re always going to create chances. But we have to become more clinical,” said Ellis.

“It’s all about improving, all the time. Because whether you win or lose, you have to look at improving. Sometimes you win and you did not play well. And sometimes you lose after playing really well.”

The team’s final fixtures for 2024 will be a double-header against Jamaica, which will be played in the Caribbean at the end of November. DM