# Women's soccer in South Africa

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.

## History

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.

## National league

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.
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.
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.

### 2019-present:SAFA Women's National League

In August 2019, the inaugural SAFA Women's National League was launched. 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* | Free State |
| Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies* | Gauteng |
| TUT Ladies | Gauteng |
| UJ Ladies* | Gauteng |
| 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 | |
(C) Champion
A copy of the match results of the inaugural season.
| 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 | |

### Pyramid system

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.
| Level | League |
| 1 | SAFA Women's League (16 teams) |
| 2 | Sasol Women's League (144 teams) |
| 3 | SAFA Women's Regional League |

## Youth Leagues

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. 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.
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. In 2024 they won their maiden CAF African Schools Football Championship.
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. 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

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.
South Africa women's national under-20 team, is nicknamed "Basetsana".
South Africa women's national under-17 soccer team, nicknamed "Bantwana".
The teams are controlled by the South African Football Association.

## International participation

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. Banyana Banyana won their first Women's Africa Cup of Nations, when they defeated hosts Morocco 2–1 in the 2022 final.
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.
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.