June 22, (THEWILL) – The South African Football Association has promised their senior women’s national football team, Banyana Banyana, a monetary windfall to incentivise them to win the upcoming Morocco 2022 African Women’s Cup of Nations (AWCON).
With their youthful, skilled team and the leadership of star player, Kgatlana, the South Africans are one of the favourites to win the competition. Along with the Super Falcons of Nigeria, Burundi, and Botswana, they are in group C and are hoping to advance.
Danny Jordan, SAFA president, revealed this when he said, “We are going to pay R9.2 million ($578,000) in bonuses for this team, on the basis that they win the (Women’s) AFCON. So, if they win Afcon we will pay R9.2 million ($578,000) and if you look at the other cost in other words our investment in this team for specifically this Afcon is R10 million ($628,330).”
“This is our commitment, our confidence in Banyana Banyana and let me just tell you this, R10 million is the highest-paid amount ever paid in the national team, men and women, so you have broken the barriers, you have the highest amount paid for any national team in the history of South African football.”
Four years ago, after both sides went scoreless for 120 minutes, South Africa narrowly lost to the Super Falcons on penalties. Refiloe Jane, the team captain, thinks the incentives will help the team since they will let them concentrate solely on playing football saying, “You’ve always said that when we [are] going to the tournament, you want to focus merely on just playing.”
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Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
