The South Africa women's national football team, nicknamed Banyana Banyana (The Girls), is the national team of South Africa and is controlled by the South African Football Association.

South African Women competed in two Olympic Games, two FIFA Women's World Cups, and 14 Women's African Cup of Nations, where they were runners up five times before winning once. They've also competed at all 10 COSAFA Women's Championships, where they won seven times, came second twice and finished in fourth place once.

History
Banyana Banyana's first official match was held on 30 May 1993 against Swaziland, which they won 14–0. Future Women's AFCON winning coach Desiree Ellis played in that game and scored three of the goals

Their first international match outside of Africa was against China. They played two matches which they lost 8-0 and 13–0 with the latter being the heaviest defeat in their history. The team's first victory over a nation outside of Africa was in 2000, where they beat Scotland by 2–0. This was at the Cyrus Women's Cup.

South Africa's biggest win came in a COSAFA Women's Championship match in Gqeberha on 31 July 2019, when they beat the Comoros 17–0. Captain Refiloe Jane scored 4 of the goals.

Olympic Games
They qualified for Olympic football for the first time in 2012, with coach Joseph Mkhonza. Their second Olympic participation was at 2016's Rio Olympics, under coach Vera Pauw.

Women's Africa Cup of Nations
Banyana appeared in 14 CAF Women's Championships (Now known as Women's AFCON) and were runners up on five occasions (1995, 2000, 2008, 2012 and 2018) and third at two events (2006 and 2010), before eventually winning their first Women's Africa Cup of Nations in 2022, beating Morocco 2–1 in the final.

FIFA Women's World Cup
Coached by Desiree Ellis, they qualified for their first FIFA Women's World Cup in 2019, in Group B with Germany, Spain and China. However, they lost all matches, and their only goal was against Spain when they went to a 1–0 lead only to lose 3–1.

South Africa qualified for the FIFA Women's World Cup again in 2023, also coached by Desiree Ellis. During the group stages they lost 2–1 to Sweden after leading 1–0, drew 2–2 against Argentina after leading 2–0, but finally defeated Italy 3–2 and advanced to the Round of 16 for the very first time. They eventually lost 2–0 to the Netherlands.

The top goal scorers at world cups are Thembi Kgatlana with 3, Hildah Magaia with 2, while Linda Motlhalo also scored one. South Africa's other goal was an own goal by Italy in 2023.

COSAFA Women's Championship
South Africa competed in all ten COSAFA Women's Championships - a tournament featuring nations from the Southern African region - since its inception in 2002. They have won seven titles (in 2002, 2006, 2008, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020), finished second twice (in 2011 and 2022) and only failed to win a medal once, when they finished fourth in 2021.

In later years, because of South Africa's success and increased participation in bigger world events, management started sending newcomers to COSAFA tournaments, to broaden their talent pool. This contributed to a decline in Banyana Banyana's dominance at this event.

Team image

Nicknames
The South Africa women's national football team has been known or nicknamed as the "Banyana Banyana", which literally translates to "Girls Girls", but such double use is often interpreted to mean "all the girls". In the context of sport, it is also understood to mean "go girls, go girls".

This name is derived from the Senior Men's National team being "Bafana Bafana" which also literally means "the boys the boys". The nickname came into existence from fans shouting "bafana bafana" to mean "go boys, go boys" as encouragement during the South Africa men's team's first international game after many years of sporting isolation due to  Apartheid policies in 1992, when they beat Cameroon 1–0 in Durban. The name stuck, and the female form was later applied to the women's team as well.

Results and fixtures

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

Legend

2022

2023

Source: Global Sports Archive

Coaching staff

Current coaching staff

Technical staff

Manager history

  Sandile Bali (1995)
  Nomaluno Mooi (1998)
  Fran Hilton-Smith (2000)
  Greg Mashilo (2002–2004)
  August Makalakalane (2006–2011)
  Joseph Mkhonza (2011–2014)
  Vera Pauw (2014–2016)
  Desiree Ellis (2016–present)

Players

Current squad
The final 23-player squad was announced for 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup on 23 June 2023. Additionally, Nthabiseng Majiya, Amogelang Motau, and Regirl Ngobeni were named as reserve players.
 Caps and goals accurate up to and including 20 July 2023 (prior the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup).

Recent call ups
 The following players have been called up to a South Africa squad in the past 12 months.

Previous squads
FIFA Women's World Cup
 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup squad
Summer Olympics
 2012 Summer Olympics squad
 2016 Summer Olympics squad
Africa Women Cup of Nations
2000 African Women's Championship squad
2010 African Women's Championship squad
2012 African Women's Championship squad
2014 African Women's Championship squad
2016 Africa Women Cup of Nations squad
2018 Africa Women Cup of Nations squad
2022 Africa Women Cup of Nations squad
COSAFA Women's Championship
 2020 COSAFA Women's Championship squad
 2021 COSAFA Women's Championship squad
 2022 COSAFA Women's Championship squad
Turkish Women's Cup
2023 Turkish Women's Cup squads

Records

 Active players in bold, statistics correct as of 2020.

Most capped players

Top goalscorers

Honours

Continental
Africa Women Cup of Nations
  Champions: 2022
  Runners-up: 1995, 2000, 2008, 2012, 2018
  Third place: 2006, 2010

African Games
  Runners-up: 2003, 2007

Regional
COSAFA Women's Championship
  Champions: 2002, 2006, 2008, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020
  Runners-up: 2011

Competitive record

FIFA Women's World Cup

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

Olympic Games

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

Africa Women Cup of Nations

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

African Games

COSAFA Women's Championship

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

All−time record against FIFA recognized nations
The list shown below shows the women's South Africa national soccer team's all−time international record against opposing nations.
*As of xxxxxx after match against  xxxx.
Key

Record per opponent
*As ofxxxxx after match against  xxxxx.
Key

The following table shows South Africa's all-time official international record per opponent:

See also

 Sport in South Africa
 Football in South Africa
 Women's football in South Africa
 National teams
 South Africa women's national football team
 South Africa women's national football team results
 South Africa women's national under-20 soccer team
 South Africa women's national under-17 soccer team

References

External links
Official website
FIFA profile

 
African women's national association football teams