{"id":39924,"date":"2026-07-18T12:12:31","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T10:12:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=39924"},"modified":"2026-07-18T12:14:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T10:14:29","slug":"ellis-names-final-banyana-banyana-squad-for-2026-wafcon","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/ellis-names-final-banyana-banyana-squad-for-2026-wafcon\/","title":{"rendered":"Ellis names final Banyana Banyana squad for 2026 WAFCON"},"content":{"rendered":"<div dir=\"auto\"><span style=\"font-family: var(--global--font-secondary); font-size: var(--global--font-size-base);\">Banyana Banyana Coach Desiree Ellis has announced the final 26 player squad for the 2026 Women\u2019s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) to be staged in Morocco.<\/span><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\" data-ogsc=\"rgb(0, 0, 0)\">\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">The squad is a mixture of youth and experience with Andile Dlamini, Refiloe Jane, Linda Motlhalo and Thembi Kgatlana, among the experienced members of the team.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Banyana Banyana will leave for Morocco on Saturday so they can acclimatise to the conditions in the North African country ahead of the tournament.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Kaylin Swart, Andile Dlamini and Kebotseng Moletsane make up the goalkeeping department of the squad.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">The experienced Mamelodi Sundowns duo of Lebohang Ramelepe and Bambani Mbane are among six defenders in the team. Sundowns make up the bulk of the squad with six players in the 26-player squad on their books.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Scotland-based midfielder Linda Motlhalo, Thembi Kgatlana and Amogelang Motau, who are both based in Mexico, Hilda Magaia and Refiloe Jane are among the experienced players in the squad.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Bongeka Gamede, Noxolo Cesane, Gabriella Moodaly Salgado and Nthabiseng Majiya have also been included in the squad.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Ellis says she chose a squad that will be able to represent the country well at the tournament.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\u201cWe chose players who we believe will be able to help us reach our goals of reaching the semi-finals of the tournament. The squad is a mixture of youth and experience.\u201d<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<p>\u2014SABC\u2014<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":32000,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-39924","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Banyana Banyana will leave for Morocco on Saturday so they can acclimatise to the conditions in the North African country ahead of the tournament.","published_date":"","news_description":"Banyana Banyana will leave for Morocco on Saturday so they can acclimatise to the conditions in the North African country ahead of the tournament.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/39924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/39924\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39926,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/39924\/revisions\/39926"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=39924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}