Banyana Banyana Are Africa's Best, but an AWCON Title Will Underline Status as Nigeria Remains the Benchmark

• South Africa's women's national football team are the best senior side the country boasts in the sport
• They qualified handsomely for the upcoming 2022 Africa Women Cup of Nations to be hosted by Morocco in July
• With their status as the continent's best team all but official, the latter will become so only if they win the tournament

South Africa's women's national football team is the country's best senior side in the sports, and now they have sights for major honours to prove it.

Having sailed into the 2022 Africa Women Cup of Nations to be held in Morocco in July, they are targeting a first ever title in the competition. They came very close to doing so in Nigeria back in 2018, but lost to the queens of the tournament Nigeria.

According to ESPN, last November, they showed that their good form was no fluke when they beat both West African powerhouses Nigeria and Ghana to win the Aisha Buhari Invitational Tournament in Nigeria.

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However, a high-standard-setting Desiree Ellis has refused to rest on her laurels, saying that only winning AWCON will rubber-stamp their current unofficial status as the best women's side in Africa.

She said to ESPN:

"The African title is a big missing piece. We have been runners up, I think five times, and 2018 was most probably the closest. The game in the Final could have gone either way, and penalties is always a lottery.

"We cannot say we are the best team in Africa until we are champions of Africa."

Of the previous 13 AWCON editions to have been held, Nigeria has won a staggering 11 titles, with Equatorial Guinea winning the other two. Ellis said that Nigeria is the benchmark to which they compare themselves as they chase history.

Referencing the successful tournament last November, she said:

"With Nigeria having been too so many finals before, they obviously have more experience than us but this team is growing and evolving. The more you play together the better it becomes.

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"After that, the players realised that they could up their level. Our goal was to test ourselves there and to see what we still needed to work on."

Banyana Banyana beat Algeria 3:1 on aggregate, qualify for the Africa Women Cup of Nations in Morocco

Banyana Banyana have brought some pride to the nation as they qualified for the Africa Women Cup of Nations Tournament (AWCON).

As reported on Sports Brief, Banyana beat Algeria 3-1 on aggregate to book their place in next year’s tournament, which will be held in Morocco.

Going into the game, Banyana had a two-goal advantage thanks to their win over Algeria in South Africa but knew they faced stern opposition in the return leg at the Stade Omar Hamadi in Algeria.