The South African U17 Women’s National Team (Bantwana) will report for camp on 5 January 2025 as they prepare for the first round of FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup qualifiers.
Bantwana will play the first-round qualifiers against Gabon in a two-legged tie. They will travel to Franceville, Gabon, for the first leg scheduled for 11 January 2025 and this match will be played at Stade de le renovation at 15h30.
They will then return to South Africa and continue preparations for the second leg, which will be played at Lucas Moripe Stadium on 18 January 2025 at 16h00.
Head Coach Ntombifuthi Khumalo has called up a strong team of 27 players with the bulk of the squad having participated in the 2024 COSAFA U17 Girls Championships, where South Africa had a good run in the group stages but failed to make the semifinals after a devasting 0-1 loss to Mauritius in their last group stage match.
Khumalo believes that the COSAFA Youth Championships were a great preparation for the World Cup qualifiers, and that her squad will be able to draw motivation from the regional tournament to progress to the next round of the qualifiers.
Speaking to www.safa.net, Khumalo said although 2024 was a good year for her and her charges, the big test starts now.
“We had a very good 2024 where we managed to win the CAF Schools Championships, which was held in Zanzibar. We also identified many new players in the National Schools Championships and the 2024 TDS Interprovincial Tournament. We won the COSAFA U15 Schools Championships in Namibia and have a group of players born in 2010, who will again participate in the CAF School Championships later this year.
“The U17 COSAFA Youth Championships was a great test for our young players who will now be playing to qualify for the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup, and we are happy that we have so many tournaments to prepare a team that can compete,” said Khumalo.
“The qualifiers will not be easy, but we are determined to ensure that we qualify for this upcoming world cup.”
Bantwana have only ever qualified for two FIFA U17 World Cups in 2010 and in 2018 and were eliminated in the first round of qualifiers against Ethiopia last year. They will be looking to go into this year’s qualifiers as a better prepared team.
The 2025 FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup will be hosted by Morocco from 17 October – 8 November 2025 and this will be the first time ever that a Youth World Cup is staged on the African continent. The tournament will be staged annually in Morocco until 2029.
Source: SAFA
