Banyana Banyana and the travelling party have settled down in Türkiye and are ready to take part in the Turkish Women’s Cup. The SA Senior National Women’s team left Mzansi on Tuesday night amidst fears of the devastating earthquake that killed more than 40 000 people in Türkiye and Syria.
There were calls for the tournament to be cancelled and for the national association Safa to reconsider their decision of participating because of the risk factors. The host country is ravaged by the natural disaster and dead bodies are still being pulled out under debris and collapsed buildings.
But after careful considerations and consultation with the important stakeholders such Fifa, the SA Embassy and the SA government, Safa was given the green light to travel and to participate.
The South Africans, led by coach Desiree Ellis and Safa Technical Director Walter Steenbok, are getting ready and putting final preparations for the girls’ first assignment against Uzbekistan on Saturday. Desiree needed this tournament desperately in order to give his team more exposure and display ahead of the coming 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup that will be held in Australia/New Zealand in July and August.
The team left with 16 local-based players and the seven overseas-based players that were selected by Ellis to this camp will join the rest of the squad later on.
“We arrived safely in the country and we were warmly welcomed by the Turkish people. We arrived at the hotel with people greeting us, it was really fantastic and welcoming. We had an activation session earlier on after the long travel,” Ellis was quoted on the Safa website. said.
The South Africans will open their Turkish Women’s Cup account when they face Uzbekistan on Saturday. World football governing body Fifa gave the greenlight to the tournament in a letter sent to all the participants on February 10. The participating teams are Bulgaria, Estonia, Kosovo, Hong Kong, Jordan, North Macedonia, Slovenia, South Africa, Uzbekistan and Zambia.
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