Desiree Ellis welcomes SAFA partnership with VW

This comes after the South African Football Association announced VW, as the official vehicle sponsor for  Banyana. 

Speaking to SABC Sport at SAFA House this afternoon, Ellis says she is happy that this partnership will not only benefit Banyana it will come in handy for all the women national teams in the country.

"I think it's amazing because you always see the big bus going to pick up a few players, now we are able to use one of the cars for women's football. Not just for the senior team but for all national teams and I think that is so, so appropriate that VW has come on board to support women's football because it is much needed,” Ellis said.

“We are going in the right direction and through that, it will assist us in many ways because people have to be transported somewhere and this will really, really help in that way."

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Ellis also used the platform to call upon corporate South Africa to stretch a helping hand to sponsor the SAFA women’s league to become professional, stating that a professional women’s league will help players to focus on football full time - which will be more beneficial for the national team.

"I think it's imperative that we get a sponsor for a professional league. We now have a vehicle sponsor, we've got Sasol on board, we've got Hollywoodbets on board but it's imperative sooner rather than later that we start looking at a professional set up because once again, two different contrasts in Denmark, playing with a not-so-experienced team and then playing with more experience against England,” the coach explained.

“It shows that if we wanna go one better because we are competing if we wanna go one better, we definitely need a professional league. Players can't sometimes make camps because they have to go to work.

“They can't make camps because they write exams, players are in matric, so, especially for the ones that have full-time jobs, if they can just concentrate on football, I think the potential is there for us to really go at it with the best team."