Head coach of the Sasol-sponsored Banyana Banyana, Desiree Ellis, was recently crowned the CAF Women’s Coach of the Year at the annual awards ceremony held in Marrakech, Morocco on Monday (11 December 2023).
This was the fourth title in a row following wins in 2018, 2019 and 2022 – the event was not held in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ellis’ success comes after a hectic year for the South African Senior Women’s National team that played 18 games in total – from February to December.
They won six, drew four and suffered eight losses.
Of the 18 matches, 11 of them were competitive games, with the rest being friendly international fixtures. They spend most of the year 2023 on the road as they played 12 away games, with only six at home.
The African Champions got the year rolling with a trip to Turkey, before heading to Serbia.
They then hosted Botswana shortly before flying out to Australia and New Zealand for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
This is where the team made history – getting their first win at the tournament, beating Italy 3-2, a result that saw them continue to rewrite the history books by qualifying for the Round of 16 – the first South African national team to do so in a FIFA competition at any level.
Post the global women’s football spectacle, they travelled to the USA for two matches (Cincinnati and Chicago) and were back home for the Hollywoodbets COSAFA Women’s Championship.
The remaining four fixtures were qualifiers – Olympic Games (vs DR Congo) and WAFCON (vs Burkina Faso) – both played home and away.
BANYANA BANYANA MATCHES IN 2023:
| OPPONENT | RESULT | DATE | TYPE | NAME |
| Uzbekistan | 3 – 0 (L) | 18 Feb | Friendly (Away) | Turkish Women’s Cup |
| Slovenia | 1 – 1 (D) | 21 Feb | Friendly (Away) | Turkish Women’s Cup |
| Serbia | 2 – 3 (L) | 10 April | Friendly (Away) | |
| Botswana | 0 – 5 (L) | 2 April | Friendly (Home) | |
| Costa Rica | 2 – 0 (W) | 15 July | Friendly (Away) | |
| Sweden | 2 – 3 (L) | 23 July | Competition (A) | FWWC |
| Argentina | 2 – 2 (D) | 28 July | Competition (A) | FWWC |
| Italy | 3 – 2 (W) | 2 August | Competition (A) | FWWC |
| Netherlands | 0 – 2 (L) | 6 August | Competition (A) | FWWC |
| USA | 0 – 3 (L) | 22 September | Friendly (A) | |
| USA | 0 – 2 (L) | 24 September | Friendly (A) | |
| Malawi | 3 – 4 (L) | 4 October | Competition (H) | COSAFA |
| Madagascar | 3 – 1 (W) | 7 October | Competition (H) | COSAFA |
| Eswatini | 3 – 0 (W) | 10 October | Competition (H) | COSAFA |
| DR Congo | 1 – 1 (D) | 25 October | Competition (A) | CAF Women’s Olympic Qualifier |
| DR Congo | 2 – 0 (W) | 30 October | Competition (H) | CAF Women’s Olympic Qualifier |
| Burkina Faso | 1 – 1 (D) | 30 November | Competition (A) | WAFCON Qualifier |
| Burkina Faso | 2 – 0 (W) | 30 November | Competition (H) | WAFCON Qualifier |
2023 will also be remembered as the year that South African women’s football stalwart, Janine van Wyk called time on her playing career – both at club level and in the national team.
After 18 years with Banyana Banyana, she walked way with her held high after breaking a record that stood for 11 years, held by Egyptian Ahmed Hassan – the two met recently for the first time at the 2023 CAF awards in Morocco.
Van Wyk made 185 appearances for her country, one more than Hassan, who retired on 184.
From next season, the South African will join the technical team of her club JVW FC – which she formed in 2012 with administrator Lauren Duncan – as the assistant coach. She has already completed her coaching badges.
It was also a year when Banyana Banyana were nominated for the National Team of the Year at the 2023 CAF Awards, with three players making the shortlist in three difference categories:
- Player of the Year: Thembi Kgatlana
- Goalkeeper of the Year: Andile Dlamini
- Interclub Player of the Year: Lebohang Ramalepe
Furthermore, five players were named in the CAF/FIFPRO Best XI for the 2023 – Dlamini, Ramalepe, Bambanani Mbane, Refiloe Jane and Linda Motlhalo.
Shortly after being announced as the CAF Women’s Coach of the Year, CentreCircle.online spent time with Ellis to get her views on the year 2023.
What does winning this award mean to you personally?
Winning this award means so much to me, but also to the team because I don’t work alone – I work in a team environment. A big thank you to the technical team that I work very closely with, and the support staff who have made this possible. They do a lot of work during training and behind the scenes, so this goes to them as well. The greatest gratitude goes to the players like coach T (Thinasonke Mbuli – Banyana Banyana assistant coach) says they make us look good. It goes to all the coaches that coach in the Hollywoodbets Super League, the Sasol League and all the other leagues around the country for the work that they put in. They work with the players 24/7 and we get to see them maybe for seven days, maybe two or three days before match. It also goes to the other coaches that work with our players, be they local or outside the country, I would like to thank too. And obviously it goes to everybody involved in woman’s football, especially in South Africa, but also on the continent. And last but not least, thank you to SAFA and Sasol, and of course Shield, coming on board now, for their unwavering support. I’m just truly grateful that I had the opportunity, through the efforts of the players and the team – so this one is for Banyana Banyana.
Kindly sum up Banyana Banyana’s year? Highs and lows (if any)
2023 has been a fantastic year, obviously 2022 with the CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON), our first ever title, then going to the World Cup – I think we showed what we are truly worth. I think the biggest disappointment is not going beyond the Round of 16, I thought against the Netherlands their goalkeeper was Player of the Match and the match could easily have gone our way, and we could be talking a lot different now – that is the low point for me. I think going into the 2023 Hollywoodbets COSAFA Women’s Championship with a new group of players, giving them the experience and not getting out of the group stages didn’t allow them to play more matches. They gave everything they had for the team, despite coming in so late for the tournament. I think the last couple of matches have been really tough on the team and the players, and I say thank you to the players who’ve really pulled through during a very long season – Hollywoodbets Super League, Banyana Banyana and other competitions – pulling through due to someplace being injured, and some players writing exams and for us that’s very important. But I think they were more highs than lows, especially at the World Cup. We are now on a new four-year cycle for the next World Cup so it’s good to see all these players coming through and really pushing each other very much.
As I said there were more highs than lows and it was a great year for women in sport and not just Banyana Banyana – we also saw the Women’s Cricket team get to the final of the World Cup, the netball World Cup doing so well at home, and then obviously it culminated in the FIFA Women’s World Cup for Banyana Banyana, so I think it’s been a fantastic year for women in sport but a lot so for Banyana Banyana – getting out of the group stages to the last 16 for the first time ever. And we know the expectations, that will be even higher next time around. But thanks to everyone who’s contributed to the success – coaches, administrators, players everyone who’s in woman’s football.
South Africa dominating the CAF/FIFPRO Team:
It’s fantastic to see so many players in the CAF FIFPRO based in women’s 11. I think Lebohang (Ramalepe) had a fantastic season, Andile (Dlamini) has played really well at the club, Bambanani Mbane was a standout at the World Cup, Refiloe Jane, captain my captain – he recently came back from injury, but we all know the quality that she possesses, and Linda (Motlhalo). I call FIFI (Jane) the conductor and I call Linda the magician, she has really grown in leaps and bounds. But I am also disappointed that the likes of Hilda Magaia, Thembi Kgatlana, Jermaine Seoposenwe are not there – and I know there are also many other players who should have been there. But this should only work to motivate us as a team and players individually to make sure that they don’t miss out on this opportunity next time. But it goes with the team doing well, we had so many nominations and so many making the first list on the CAF nominations and shows the work of the team, shows the success of the team, and with next year being such a big year I’m sure players will go back and make sure that their names are there next time around. But to those that have made the CAF/FIFPRO XI – Andile, Bambanani, Linda, Lebohang and Refiloe, I say congratulations to you on a job well done, but we have more work to do to make sure that Banyana Banyana stays on top, we have more work to do to qualify for the Olympics and to defend our title at WAFCON. So, let’s enjoy the festive season, for those that are currently still playing continue to be good ambassadors for the country.
Missing out on the CAF Women’s National Team of the Year?
I think you look at the awards that were handed out at the CAF awards, very disappointed not to get National Team of the Year, but it really motivates us to do better next time, to be nominated again. I’m very excited for the players that were nominated. Yes, we didn’t win everything that we were nominated in, but it gives us a lot of motivation to be able to really push harder next year – 2024 is a very big year, but for now it’s just about letting our hair down and taking some time out after a very long season.
What to expect in 2024 for Banyana Banyana?
2024 is another big year for Banyana Banyana. We play Tanzania early in the year in February, the third round of the Olympic qualifiers and having missed out on Tokyo 2020 we’re really pushing. All the games we’ve played have shown that teams on the continent have really improved and we have to be at our absolute best against Tanzania. They have really shown their mettle, beating Botswana in the previous round. There’s also a fourth round, but we’re not thinking that far ahead yet, we’ve got this game that we have to we have to play (against Tanzania). And there’s also the 2024 COSAFA Women’s Championship coming up and obviously culminating into the WAFCON, the dates are not out yet but could be later in the new year. It is a really huge tournament, it’s always much more difficult going to defend it but we have a group of players that have a never say die attitude, that don’t know when to quit and will really push to make sure that we defend our title. So, it’s a very big year and after having done so well at the World Cup I think the expectations will always be very high. It’s a lot of work to be done, but a lot of games to be played with many other competitions, local competitions in between, the FNB Women’s Varsity Cup, the COSAFA Cup, the CAF Women’s Champions League, so we have to be really careful how we take care of the players during this coming season. This last season has been very tough with players playing back-to-back – immediately from games traveling to the national team, flying out of the country, so we really have to take care of the players well-being. There were a lot injuries towards the end of last season and we have to make sure that we take care of those players and then they come back stronger, but it’s going to be a big year and we all have to play our part – the coaches in the league, ourselves and make sure that we work together and come up with a the good strategy against the opponent who will be facing but it’s going to be a long year, but it could be a very successful year.
Your take on the Hollywoodbets Super League?
When I look back at this past season, there’s been some very close games in the Hollywoodbets Super League, and we have spoken about the continued improvement – more and more players in Hollywoodbets Super League are raising their hands. You look at the teams that have now come in – we’re sorry to lose Coal City Wizards and Ma-Indies – but you look at another University team coming in, Fort Hare – they have the resources and are well organized and well-structured. Lindelani Ladies, a well-known name from KZN, a club working with a lot of youth, I know coach Nathi really well. He’s put in such a lot of effort, and they’ve tried for the past few seasons to get into the Hollywoodbets Super League, and they finally got in. They bring in a whole new different brand and hopefully they can add a lot of value. To the other teams, keep improving, keep making sure that players continue to raise their hands. But it’s been a really good season in terms of assisting us at Banyana Banyana, and I think it can only get bigger and better. But it’s imperative that we speak about a professional league – we said it’s a big criterion for Banyana Banyana – to consistently improve, and having a professional league and I think that’s the next ultimate goal that we need to push for.
Personal goals, aims, ambitions?
I keep getting asked about my personal ambitions – I don’t have any personal ambitions really because it’s the team ambitions. Qualifying for the Olympics, going back to the COSAFA Cup, giving a new group of players an opportunity or even players that played this year an opportunity to gain more experience, getting to the Olympics and we don’t want to speak too far ahead but obviously doing well at the tournament and of course culminating in the end of the year which is the WAFCON, really making sure that we defend their title as I said it’s going to be tough. It’s always fantastic to win it, but going there as the defending champions everybody wants to take you down so we’re going to have to be at absolute best; staying healthy of course, and spending a lot more time with family, which is really important – so that’s about it with my personal ambitions, making sure that I go on a few courses as well to further my education, I think that is also important. I also want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy new year, good health, and prosperity in 2024. Don’t drink and drive and make sure that you visit family and spend time with family because family is precious, and tomorrow is not promised to anyone. So have a fantastic festive season.
By Matlhomola Morake
