SAFA have given Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis a fresh mandate following the signing of her new four-year contract.
After a brief period of uncertainty and her absence from the recent WAFCON qualifiers, Ellis has resumed her position as head coach of the national women’s football team, concluding negotiations with the association.
She was not on the bench during the two-legged qualifier against the Democratic Republic of Congo, as negotiations for a new contract with the association were ongoing. Banyana’s 2-1 aggregate win secured their spot in next year’s WAFCON in Morocco.
Ellis had been working on a month-to-month arrangement for some time, but this week, SAFA president Danny Jordaan confirmed she had finally signed her new four-year deal. She was offered the new deal by the beleaguered association two weeks ago, but disputed certain clauses.
DANNY JORDAAN SPELLS OUT DESIREE ELLIS’S FRESH MANDATE
The SAFA boss confirmed at the national Under-17 team send-off heading for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar that the WAFCON-winning coach “is happy and everything is fine”.
“I am happy everything is settled, and you could see from the support for the Under 17s and giving them a message of support. She is back,” said Jordaan.
He added that Ellis’s task was now to rebuild the team by infusing youthful energy. “We must focus because we have to rebuild Banyana. We have to look at young players and build the team. It’s not going to be easy.
“AFCON is going to have many women’s teams, which is going to be difficult. We must rebuild. We are focusing on Morocco and Nigeria, but Ghana is also a strong team and Senegal is coming up, so it’s going to be difficult,” Jordaan explained.
Ellis has been in charge since 2016 and qualified Banyana to the FIFA Women’s World Cup twice, also winning the WAFCON in 2022. She also guided the team to the COSAFA Women’s Championship title three times. The significance of next year’s WAFCON in Morocco is that it will serve as a 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifier.
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