South Africa’s women’s senior team Banyana Banyana, led by illustrious head coach Dr Desiree Ellis, have a two-fold mission at the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) in Morocco — reclaiming the continental crown and securing qualification for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil.

The 2022 African champions landed on Sunday in Casablanca, Morocco, to continue their preparations for the competition set to take place from 26 July to 16 August. It officially commences on Sunday – 26 July. SA’s opening match is against Tanzania on Monday.

Ellis led South African women to their maiden continental title in 2022 after defeating the host nation, Morocco, 2–1 in the final. Banyana Banyana have qualified for the FIFA Women’s World Cup twice — their debut at the 2019 World Cup in France and their second appearance at the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Ellis’ target is to finish among the top four nations out of the 16, to automatically qualify for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil. Currently, Banyana Banyana are ranked second in the Confederation of African Football (CAF) rankings and are placed 57th globally in the overall FIFA Women’s World Rankings.

Ellis’ charges have had two intense training sessions over the previous two days and are working to ensure they adapt to the conditions ahead of their Group B encounters, which feature matches against Tanzania, Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso.

She maintains that favourable weather conditions, along with a full complement of players based overseas, would stand the team in good stead in the quest to reclaim the continental title and qualify for the FIFA World Cup.

“We’ve had two sessions now trying to acclimatise to the heat as we are coming from a cold South Africa. Fortunately, for now, it’s not as hot as it was last year. We had really good sessions and now we are looking forward to the rest of the week,” said Ellis.

Overseas-based players include Thembi Kgatlana, Amogelang Motau (both based in Mexico), Bongeka Gamede (Denmark) and Linda Motlhalo (Scotland).

“It’s very exciting to have them. We have sat down with them to show them what we did last week and to continue with preparations. Of course, it’s a couple of days to go and we need to make sure that everybody understands what it is that we need to do,” added Ellis.