Cape Town — Goalkeeper Andile Dlamini, midfielder Refiloe Jane and coach Desiree Ellis have all been acclaimed by the CAF’s Technical Study Group (TSG) after the first-round matches at the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.
Dlamini and Refiloe are the only two Banyana Banyana players to be included in the Best XI which the TSG named on Tuesday. Banyana Banyana's Ellis has been named the best 'Group Stage Coach' after she guided the team to a 3-0 shut-out in the first round. Morocco was the only other team to win all three first-round games.
Dlamini was also named 'Goalkeeper of the Group Stage', essentially after a sterling performance in the opening match against Nigeria who only managed to score very late in the match.
Jane, who has picked a 'Woman of the Match' award after the clash against Botswana was named in the star-studded midfield along with Morocco’s skipper Ghizlane Chebbak who was also named 'Best Player in the Group Stage'. She is also the leading goalscorer in the 2022 showpiece in Morocco.
The third midfielder is Zambia’s Grace Chanda who breaks down opposition defences whenever she sets off on attacks.
Banyana Banyana's superstar Thembi Kgatlana did not make the cut and picked up an injury in the side's third game of the tournament. She has been withdrawn because of an injury and has returned to Spain for an operation.
There is one South African serving on the TSG who decided on the accolades after the first-round matches were completed. She is the former Banyana Banyana goalkeeper and subsequently match analyst who worked alongside Ellis. The other TSG members are Clementine Toure (Cote d’Ivoire head coach), Radia Fertoul (Algeria head coach), Jacqui Shipanga (Namibia Technical Director), Shilene Booysen (South Sudan head coach), Mercy Tagoe (Ghana head coach) and Amani Boukare (Tunisia Under-20 head coach and senior team assistant coach).
Some of these players could rake in more acclaim when the prestigious CAF Awards 2022 will be held on 21 July 2022 in Rabat, Morocco, ahead of the final of the Women’s African Cup of Nations.
Banyana Banyana lead the list of nominees for the 2022 Player of the Year award with six players, the most by a country. The six players are Andile Dlamini, Bambanani Mbane (both Mamelodi Sundowns FC), Thembi Kgatlana (Racing Louisville FC), Jermaine Seoposenwe (SC Braga), Refiloe Jane (AC Milan) and Linda Motlhalo (Djugardens IF).
Meanwhile, Ellis and the tough-tackling Banyana Banyana defender Janine Van Wyk have been invited to a workshop aimed at developing women's football in Africa.
"CAF's mission is to improve the practice of women's football on the continent and especially to professionalise it," said the President of the CAF Women's Football Organising Committee, Kanizat Ibrahim.
The senior manager of Women's Football Development at CAF, Meskerem Goshime Tadesse, said that over the past two years there has been a major drive to train coaches and instructors for the women's game.
“Since 2020, we have put in place a strategy for women's football and its development," said Tadesse.
"Training for coaches and zonal instructors, the implementation of girls schools’ program, the increase of teams participating at WAFCON, and the creation of a Women's Champions League, a prominent competition, have been high on the agenda.
"We need to professionalise the structure surrounding women's football. For the Champions League, we imposed contracts for players and licenses for the coaches.
Last year in the WCL it was a C License for the coaches, for this year CAF requires Women's Clubs Coaches participating in WCL to have a B License. Despite how far we have come in this direction for the development of women's football in our continent, much remains to be done.”
IOL Sport