Retired Banyana Banyana star Portia Modise is calling on the South African Football Association (Safa) to pay the girls more bonuses after they played one of their best matches and made history by reaching the knockout stage of the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup.
Banyana are guaranteed R1.14 million rands from Fifa for reaching the knockout stage and Safa, via the Motsepe Foundation donation, who promised each player R230 000. The girls will each get R1.33 million for their efforts at the World Cup in New Zealand.
Banyana will now play against the powerful Netherlands who were beaten in the finals of the last World Cup in 2019. The game is on Sunday morning and kick off at 4am (SA time). The Oranje are on a goalscoring spree and they scored nine goals in their three group matches against Portugal, USA and Vietnam.
Modise, the controversial former dribbling wizard, was speaking in Johannesburg at a public viewing after Banyana nailed Italy 3-2 in Group C last match and booked their place in the Last 16 of the tournament.
Modise has been critical of the Banyana set-up, including the coach, the association, and certain players. But after Wednesday’s victory, she gave praise to the team and urged Safa to pay the girls more than they have been promised.
There is a deadlock as to how much Safa will pay the girls and the technical team staff members and with the team staying put for the next round, the matter is still going to make headlines.
“Banyana gave all their hearts to Mzansi and when they were singing the national anthem, they were representing us. When they come back home after the tournament, they deserve more bonuses, I say to Danny Jordaan, how about more bonuses Mr president – not the Fifa bonuses, Safa bonuses,” said the outspoken Modise.
“In our first and second games, what I noticed is that our players play a lot of matches in the local leagues and in the Hollywoodbets league and others for their clubs overseas. So, what I observed is that there was fatigue by the time the players got to the tournament. We need to use Thembi Kgatlana well and tell her to share those balls – once she started sharing those balls, Banyana started to have control and leadership. Those three players (Kgatlana, Jermaine Seopesenwe and Hilda Makgaia) made it happen and they started to lead. Momentum was building up and we got ourselves under pressure for nothing. The country is very proud of Banyana,” Modise added.
Said Safa president Danny Jordaan after the match: “We would like to congratulate our girls for making history and bringing joy not only to 60 million South Africans, but to the African continent as a whole. Beating Italy (3-2), a country ranked several places above us, showed the determination, professionalism and focus of the African champions. While we cherish and celebrate this historic moment, we must maintain our focus as we prepare to meet Netherlands in the second round. It’s anyone’s game now and this Banyana Banyana side have shown they have what it takes to go places.”
Follow @SundayWorldZA on Twitter and @sundayworldza on Instagram, or like our Facebook Page, Sunday World, by clicking here for the latest breaking news in South Africa.
