Banyana Banyana assistant coach Thinasonke Mbuli says taste of the FIFA Women’s World Cup motivated her players to overcome a tough as teak Democratic Republic of Congo, and in the process booked their spot at the 2026 CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) next year.
The South Africans needed a late Thembi Kgatlana goal to triumph 1-0 on the night and 2-1 on aggregate after both teams finished 1-all in the first leg in Kinshasa last week.
The reverse fixture took place at the Dobsonville Stadium in Soweto on Tuesday night (28 October 2025).
The 2026 WAFCON is a qualifying tournament for the Brazil 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup and Mbuli says the Sasol-sponsored Banyana Banyana had no alternative but to win and continue their journey to fight for a ticket to South America.
“Once you have tasted the World Cup, you want to go back. We had to qualify – we didn’t have any other choice,” said an elated Mbuli.
South Africa is the third COSAFA country to book their spot at the WAFCON in Morocco in March, following in the footsteps of regulars, Zambia and debutants Malawi.
“I am very happy for the Chawinga sisters (Tabitha and Temwa), they deserve to be playing in the WAFCON, and now it means all the best players from Africa will be at the WAFCON – and it’s going to be tough,” added the Banyana Banyana assistant coach.
The 2022 African Champions will be making their 14th appearance in the continental tournament – 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2022, 2024, 2026.
Record-winning Nigeria – with 10 WAFCON titles – are the defending champions, South Africa finished in fourth place in the last edition in July this year. Both nations return to an expanded competition with four extra spots – up from 12 to 16 participating teams.
Mbuli says this will make it tougher to progress than in previous tournaments.
“Going to Morocco with 16 teams is now going to be more difficult because to qualify for quarterfinals it means we won’t need best number 3, only the top two will qualify for the quarters and then the semi-finals,” said the University of the Western Cape (UWC) head coach.
Also punching their tickets to the tournament are Zambia, Kenya, Algeria, Ghana, Tanzania, hosts Morocco, defending champions Nigeria as well as debutants Malawi and Cape Verde
The WAFCON runs from 17 March to 3 April 2026.
Preparations for the competition will start in earnest next month with the final FIFA Calendar window coming up where most, if not all, qualified teams will be looking for action to fine-tune their squads.
Mbuli spoke to the media after the victory over the DR Congo, touching on several topics.
YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE CLASH vs DR CONGO
It was exactly how we expected, we knew that they’re going to come here and be physical. First half they were happy with the 0-0 draw, they were kicking us off the ball, and it felt like the match officials were not protecting us. By half time it worked for them, they got into our heads and we were panicking – but the message to the players was to keep calm. They wanted to frustrate us, and I won’t lie we were frustrated. They still had substitutes who were capable of coming in and changing the game and you saw after they made the two changes the game changed completely. Just like how it finished in Congo, they were pressing us, and credit must go to our fullbacks who were playing under a lot of pressure.
The save by Andile (Dlamini) kept us in the game. We knew it wouldn’t be easy, we knew what was at stake, we wanted to qualify. Going to Morocco is very important because now we can start talking about qualifiers for the World Cup.
WHAT MOTIVATED THE TEAM AGAINST DRC
The importance of this game, which is the qualifier to go back to Morocco turned things around for us – we knew that going to Morocco would give us an opportunity for a chance to play for the qualifiers to go to the World Cup – once you have tasted the World Cup, you want to go back. We had to qualify – we didn’t have any other choice.
BANYANA WAFCON PLANS
Our wish is that there is the last FIFA calendar window of the year coming up now in November, we are hoping that we can get a friendly match because the tricky part for us is that WAFCON is in March, our league (Hollywoodbets Super League) is off at that time. Our players will be off in in December, and the beginning of March the WAFCON kicks off – in our league usually the season kicks off in March, we will have to find the balance in terms of players going to offseason but also remain active because most of the teams in the league come back for pre-season in the second week of January – but if we count pre-season from the second week of January to 17 March, that’s eight weeks, and normal preseason is eight weeks. It means if we sit back and rely on teams to help us in terms of preparing the players for March we might not do well in Morocco, so we must use the upcoming FIFA calendar window and we must make sure that we are active. It’s going to be tough and I hope the league kicks off early so we can go to the preparation camp with players having maybe three or games in terms of minutes, but if you’re going to stick to the league kicking off in March, it means then the team (Banyana Banyana) must come early in camp to prepare – but the next window we must make sure that we use it, we must find a friendly match for that window.
WAFCON 2026
I think the past tournament, even though it was not a (World Cup) qualifier, but you see the standard of the teams – if you go back to maybe 2022 in terms of tournament trends most of the time African teams will sit deep and play on the low block and then wait, play on the counter. Most of the teams in the previous WAFCON were brave in such a way that most of them were playing high press it shows here that the teams are more technical now, they’re not just relying on their strikers to run.
16 NATIONS FOR WAFCON 2026
Going to Morocco with 16 teams means now it will be more difficult to qualify for quarterfinals because we won’t need best number 3, only the top two will qualify for the quarters and then the semi-finals. So, it will be very tough because in the tournament of 12 everyone had a chance to qualify the knockout stages with that rule of best number three, so the upcoming WAFCON will be very difficult.
ON MALAWI MAKING THEIR DEBUT
I am very happy for the Chawinga sisters (Tabitha and Temwa), they deserve to be playing in the WAFCON. Like I mentioned before, Malawi has some of the best players in Africa, be it the Chawinga sisters, the young ones from U20 – again they have also done well in terms of exporting their best players. If Tabitha and her sister can be on the list of the Ballon d’or it tells us how good they are. And you can’t be in the Ballon d’or and then you don’t play in the WAFCON. It’s good for their profile, it’s good for their country and now it means all the best players from Africa will be at the WAFCON – and it’s going to be tough.
GROWTH OF WOMEN’S FOOTBALL
I think the level of woman’s football is growing, if you look at DR Congo, they have players that are playing abroad for professional teams. Their striker Merveille Kanjinga Nanguji is playing for PSG (France) – she is not signed by PSG, she is a starter, she plays 90-minute games for PSG. So, there are good players, and they are not playing at home (in their home countries). In the past there was a gap between Banyana Banyana and DR Congo, it’s because our league was competitive but now most African teams are exporting players. Let’s talk about the teams around us here at COSAFA – the best players from Zambia are not playing at home, the best players from Malawi are not playing at home, maybe we (South Africa) must start exporting our best players because, yes, our league is growing but the rest of Africa is growing by exporting more players. You make an example of Sundowns Ladies not going back to Champions League – most of the players from DR Congo are playing for TP Mazembe – last year they won the CAF Champions League, and they got offers abroad. So, the only way to close the gap while we are waiting for our league (Hollywoodbets Super League) to be professional is to make sure that the players that we have are not playing at home. We must export our best players so that they can go and play professional football and come back and help us in the national team. For instance, number 19 from DR Congo – MERVEILLE KANJINGA NANGUJI – she was good last year but now she is a different player. She played Champions League for TP Mazembe now she is playing for PSG guys, PSG!! She is a completely different player compared to what she was maybe 6 months ago. The rest of Africa is escorting players maybe that’s the route we must take, export our professional players and go taste professional football somewhere.
By Matlhomola Morake
