Banyana Banyana begin the defence of their Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) title when they take on Ghana at the Honneur Stadium in Oujda, Morocco on Monday.
South Africa are one of the teams to beat and head into the tournament on the back of some good results in their recent matches with a squad that is a mixture of young and experienced players.
Desiree Ellis’ charges take on a Ghana team that is returning to WAFCON after a seven-year absence and need to start strongly to put themselves in a good position to make it to the quarter-final.
Form guide
Banyana Banyana come into the match in great form after winning their last seven matches, all against African opposition.
That was after three straight losses, among them back-to-back defeats to Jamaica, although that was in December, and they have been on a winning run this year which they hope to extend on Monday.
Meanwhile, Ghana have won three of their last seven, losing four and drawing one, over that period which will give South Africa hope of getting all three points.
Head-to-head
Monday’s match will be the fifth meeting between South Africa and Ghana with the other four having seen either side win one while two ended in draws. The two teams last met in September 2021 when Banyana Banyana won 3-0.
Team news
While striker Thembi Kgatlana is missing from the tournament, South Africa still have members of the Class of 2022 that won their first WAFCON title who include Refiloe Jane, Andile Dlamini, Bambanani Mbane, Jermaine Seoposenwe, Linda Motlhalo and Hildah Magaia as well as promising youngsters like Fikile Magama.
What have they said?
Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis is confident of a positive start after keenly analysing Monday’s opponents.
“We’ve done a lot of analysis, and I’m sure they’ve also done analysis on us too, if you’re not ready now then we have a problem,” said Ellis.
“We came to Morocco early to prepare, and we are now ready for the game. It's just about using the plans tomorrow [Monday], it’s about making sure that if one plan doesn’t work, we have another plan and another plan and another plan…. We just need to put our game plan in place and make sure that we get the result we want.”
Ghana’s Swedish coach, Kim Lars Bjorkegren, who joined the team in January 2025, accepts that they are the underdog but is ready to pull off an upset.
“As a coach, I need to show my players that they can trust me in difficult situations, and I think they do. Of course, we know that we are a little bit of an underdog or a dark horse, we are not one of the biggest favourites that people are talking about, but I know that we have the quality in this group to beat all of the teams in this tournament. I think we can have a really good chance to be successful,” said Bjorkegren.
Time and where to watch
The match will kick off at 18:00 South African time on Monday and will be live on SABC and SuperSport TV.
Banyana Banyana predicted line-up
Dlamini; Ramalepe, Magama, Mbane, Makhubela; Gamede, Jane, Seoposenwe; Cesane, Motlhalo, Magaia
