SAFA bank on Banyana Banyana’s World Cup showing for professional league

Banyana, who went as far as the round of 16 in Australia, received a satisfactory assessment from the association. 

And now, CEO Lydia Monyepao is yearning for the appropriate partners to take the sport to the next level for female athletes.

"We can't speak on the corporates because they are the ones who sign the cheques. It's been many years, and Sasol have been the only sponsor for Banyana Banyana," defended Monyepao.

"Banyana has been doing so well, but up to today, we only have Sasol and another sponsor [Shield] recently coming on board, despite all the achievements of Banyana.

"Hollywoodbets [Super League], the league has been going for a while now, we still only have one sponsor, so I think at the end of the day, it's about the people that are putting their signatures on the cheques to come on board."

Due to exposure and access to semi and professional leagues, the current squad has made significant strides in winning the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations as well as qualifying for back-to-back World Cups. 

Monyapao, herself a former national team captain, had to work a 9-5 in her day, but says the long-term goal is to make playing the sport easier for the next generation.

"We will continue advocating for the professionalisation of the league, for more sponsors to come on board in women's football in general, because it's not only about Banyana," she added.

"We have to think about a succession plan for the long-term, so that players of today are easily replaceable in the future, so that we don't have a situation where the performance of Banyana goes down, [but] we can increase performance and maintain the success of the team."