Published Thursday, 03 August 2023

Banyana Banyana coach, Desiree Ellis has dedicated her side’s final  FIFA Women’s World Cup™ group match win over Italy to all women’s football coaches and former players back home.

The current CAF Women’s Football Coach of the Year was speaking after masterminding one of the tournament’s biggest upsets when her side booted Italy out of the competition, thanks to a hard-fought 3-2 victory at the Rectangular Stadium in Wellington.

Speaking after the match, Ellis said the victory not only meant a lot to the team, but it is a dedication to the stakeholders of the game back in South Africa, in particular the women’s football coaches and former players.

“This is for all the coaches in the (women’s) league that have played their part. This is for the coaches that have come before. This is for everybody involved in women’s football because they have played their part as well as the players that came before,” said an emotional Ellis.

Asked on what the victory means to her personally as a coach, Ellis maintained that credit must be equally shared with her technical team and the players, who she believes worked just as hard for the victory.

“It’s very difficult to speak about me because I work in a team environment. I think while I was standing on the line trying to give instructions the rest of the group was strategizing behind me. I’m in the game, I’m part of the game and they are looking at things from a different angle and I think that’s why I call it a team”, concluded the coach.

Next in line for the reigning TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations champions will be a round of 16 clash against 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup™ silver-medalists, Netherlands on Sunday, 06 August.

Kick-off is at 06h00 GMT.