Head coach of the South African women’s national team, Desiree Ellis has urged the corporate world and government to get involved and invest in women’s football.
Ellis was speaking from the Sydney Football Stadium in Australia after Banyana Banyana bowed out of the FIFA Women’s World Cup™ following a 2-0 defeat to Netherlands in the round of 16.
The current CAF Women’s Coach of the Year has added another impressive achievement to her already outstanding profile after being the first coach to qualify a senior South African national team to FIFA World Cup™ knockout stage.
However, the former national team captain believes that the next Banyana Banyana team at the FIFA Women’s World Cup™ can perform even better should the necessary support from the private sector and government get behind the women’s game in South Africa.
“With what this team has achieved, I think the corporate world needs to stand up and really take notice and be counted. Otherwise, we’re going to come back in four years’ time and we’re going to go through the same thing and everybody’s going to say this team played and we could have gone further,” said Ellis.
With this being the first time the FIFA Women’s World Cup™ has had three African nations qualifying for the knockout stages, Ellis believes that the possibility of winning it was and remains there for any team at this stage.
“When I look at the World Cup, the possibility of us winning it was there and it was there for everyone. So, we urge the corporates to come on board to assist here and the government to step in and assist in growing the women’s game” concluded Ellis.
The reigning champions return to home soil with their heads held up high and will be hoping to replicate their performance in the upcoming TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations Qualifiers in the next few months.