SA women’s soccer under Caf spotlight

The annual Caf awards are set to take centre stage at the Albatros Citadel Sahl Hasheesh, Hurghada, Egypt tonight, with South Africa well represented by Banyana Banyana striker Thembi Kgatlana (above) and her coach Desiree Ellis, who are among the nominees.

Both Kgatlana and Ellis hold the African Woman’s Playerof-theYear accolade and African women’s Coach-of-the-Year awards respectively.

Kgatlana, who currently plays her football in China for Beijing BG Phoenix FC has been short-listed along with Nigeria and Barcelona star, Asisat Oshoala and Cameroon international, Ajara Nchout.

The striker has enjoyed quite a memorable 2019, which saw her help Banyana qualify for their first-ever Fifa Women’s World Cup last year. At the global competition, Kgatlana scored Banyana’s first ever goal at the tournament in their first appearance against Spain in the opening game which they unfortunately lost 3-1.

She suffered a minor set-back last year with a hamstring injury, but was able to get back to her best by scoring four goals in 11 games for Beijing BG Phoenix FC.

“It feels good to be nominated once again, I am really thankful to everyone who is always supporting me and I thank God for everything. It’s a very tough category and I am up against some of the best women’s players in the continent. Being nominated feels like I am winner already and we will see what happens,” said the striker.

“It’s a very good thing to see South Africa being well represented, it shows that women’s football in the country is really going somewhere because of the recognition that we are getting. We made it to our first- ever World Cup last year and we are looking forward to doing more for Banyana. Meanwhile, the South African senior women’s team have been nominated for the Women’s National Team-of-the-Year award for a second successive time. The award was won by the Nigerian women’s national team last year.