Despite being bankrolled by Sasol, the women’s football administrator is still appealing for more brands to back the women’s game
South Africa‘s women’s team manager Lauren Duncan has asked for more sponsors and brands to back their side.
Banyana Banyana made a huge leap as they played at the Women’s World Cup for the first time in their history in France this summer.
Before their maiden World Cup appearance, Desiree Ellis’ side featured at the two previous Olympic women’s football tournaments in London 2012 and Rio 2016.
Despite losing all three group stage games at the showpiece event, the team manager picks positives in their maiden outing, while being upbeat about the future.
“We wanted to win the game. Thembi [Kgatlana] scored and the whole stadium went crazy, it was a special goal and will stay in everyone’s minds for a long time,” Duncan told Fifa.
“But I think ‘about that goal, everything that we have been through, that goal touched us emotionally. It’s just a shame we couldn’t go on to win that game.
“Certain expectations are quite high, there is a lot of information required, and while we were preparing for the World Cup, we were still playing international friendlies – it takes a lot of detail, energy and effort.
“I think women’s football has changed a lot. There is more attention on Banyana Banyana, people are behind us and since we qualified for the Olympics in 2012 and 2016, things started to change.
“Hopefully we qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games and even more people will know about Banyana Banyana. Over the past few years, we have seen more exposure for the team, but we need more sponsors to come on board and more brands to individually endorse our players which will assist the growth of women’s football in the country.
“I think we are just getting better and better, there are areas we need to fix as football evolves. We have a good development, we have good youth coming through, so it will be interesting to see what happens in the future.”
With the World Cup long over, South Africa are now focused on the upcoming Cosafa Women’s Cup later this month as they aim to defend the title they won last year on home soil.
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