Kgatlana credits Banyana’s Wafcon success to player exports
"A lot has changed, we have many players who are playing regularly overseas," said Kgatlana.
Thembi Kgatlana says Banyana’s success has been helped by more women playing their club football abroad. Picture: Samuel Shivambu/Backpagepix.
The level of progress South African women footballers have made in club football internationally was key to the success of Banyana Banyana at the 2022 Caf Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco last month, says Banyana striker Thembi Kgatlana.
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In the last couple of years, there has been a number of Banyana players who have been exported to play in top professional leagues around the world, something that was not usual a decade ago, with only a few players managing to earn contracts abroad, and even then their stints were not long term.
In the current Banyana squad, players like Kgatlana, Linda Motlhalo, Refiloe Jane, Kholosa Biyana, Lebogang Ramalepe are some of the players who have managed to stay abroad for a long time. That alone says a lot and Kgatlana believes that has helped the South African senior women’s team to be a force to be reckoned onn the continent after beating the hosts 2-1 to lift the Wafcon trophy for the very first time in their history.
“A lot has changed, we have many players who are playing regularly overseas and that has helped the team to be strong. They train every day and they play at a high level, it was not like that in the past. We only had a few players playing overseas. Now things have changed and we have to thank former players for paving the way for us,” said the Banyana striker.
“If you remember well, Nigeria was the only country that was dominant in women’s football. And that is all because they had plenty of players playing outside of their country. That is why it was so hard competing with them because they were at a top level. But now, we also have the Sasol League and the Hollywoodbets League in the country and those leagues are very competitive as well.”
Kgatlana was unfortunately ruled out of the Wafcon after suffering a ruptured Achilles tendon in their third game against Botswana at the tournament. The US-based Racing Louisville striker is expected to be out of action for a year, but she has remained positive about making a quick recovery.
