The South African Football Association’s search for the next generation of women national team players continued this past weekend in Limpopo. SAFA, in close partnership with Sasol and the Department of Sport and Recreation are currently on a drive across the country to unearth talent that will represent the various women national teams as they prepare for their respective tournaments.
In 2018, the Association, Sasol and the Department of Sport & Recreation have travelled to the North West, Free State, Mpumalanga and Gauteng with a technical team and scouts consisting of Thinasonke Mbuli, Sheryl Botes, Cameron Cox and Banyana Banyana head coach, Desiree Ellis.
Just like the different provinces, Limpopo produced a number of talented footballers which will form part of the next crop of women footballers in the country. Limpopo is home to a number of national team players which include Banyana Banyana striker Noko Matlou.
“The purpose of this exercise is to find hidden talent for Banyana Banyana, Basetsana (SA U20), Bantwana (SA U17) and the SAFA HPC Academy. We did this last year and discovered phenomenal talent which went on to represent the junior national teams and are now regular players in the Sasol League. We are continuing with this because it has yielded incredible results for women’s football” said SAFA’s Assistant Technical Director, Fran Hilton-Smith
Nozipho Mbatha, Sasol Group Brand Marketing Manager, added, “The Sasol League provincial roadshows have been such a successful journey for us. Our goal, together with SAFA, was to create an opportunity for the Banyana Banyana coach to assist in upskilling Sasol League coaches in order to make them aware of what is expected in the national team. We further hope that the roadshows have helped the teams by providing them a platform to showcase their talent. We’d like to thank our partner SAFA for working with us in making these roadshows a possibility.’’