Banyana Banyana players making overseas moves

An increasing number of Banyana Banyana players are securing places in international leagues. In the space of 10 days, five players have made moves, adding to the number of South African female footballers already plying their trade internationally.

The likes of Refiloe Jane, Linda Motlhalo, Bambanani Mbane and Ode Fulutudilu have already been flying the South African flag internationally.

This increase in South African players abroad can only impact positively on the growth of the national team. Especially as the structures for women’s football in South Africa are still at amateur level, even with the inception of the Safa National Women’s League (SNWL) in 2019.

“Sasol has been fantastic with the Sasol League. Then the national league came along, and we draw players from that. So, we cannot discount the efforts and input from Sasol. But on the other hand, you want players to train at a higher level every day, you want players to play at a high level every week,” Banyana coach Desiree Ellis told Daily Maverick.

“And when you play at that high level you get used to that high intensity. Our leagues are organised and that, but the intensity in some of the matches is very low. So, when you’re preparing for international football, the gap is so big. The intensity they are training and playing at now, the gap is much closer.”

These sentiments were echoed by Banyana captain and stalwart Janine van Wyk, who became the latest player to land herself an international contract with Scottish champions Glasgow City.

“It’s history to have so many South Africans playing abroad, and I know with the experience they’ll be gaining and playing in high competition week in and week out, training on a daily basis will definitely strengthen our national team. But it’ll also open up many doors for youngsters in our country,” Van Wyk, who has 170 international caps and captained Banyana at the 2019 World Cup, told Daily Maverick.

At the age of 33 and after recovering from a serious knee injury, a return abroad was not on the cards for the South African captain who also owns JVW, a team recently promoted to the SNWL from the Sasol League. She saw herself hanging up her boots locally. Instead, she has now secured a dream move to a top club.

Although strides have been made to improve the women’s game locally, the general hope is that more players will make the leap internationally, and with time occupy spaces in greats teams like Barcelona, Lyon and Chelsea to name a few.