Banyana's Desiree Ellis and Thembi Kgatlana star at CAF Awards
Desiree Ellis and Thembi Kgatlana were named as the Coach and Player of the Year respectively at the CAF awards ceremony in Dakar Senegal on Tuesday night.
JOHANNESBURG - It was a great night for South African football and Banyana Banyana as Desiree Ellis and Thembi Kgatlana were named as the Coach and Player of the Year respectively at the CAF awards ceremony in Dakar Senegal on Tuesday night.
The Banyana Banyana duo were rewarded for a stellar 2018 in which Ellis led the national women’s side to successive Cosafa Cup titles and finished as runners-up to eventual champions Nigeria in the Women’s Afcon in Ghana in November.
Desiree Ellis is African Women’s Coach of the Year 2018 #AiteoCAFAwards18 pic.twitter.com/d7cIF66cT8
— CAF (@CAF_Online) January 8, 2019
Chrestinah Thembi Kgatlana is African Women’s Player of the Year 2018 #AiteoCAFAwards18 pic.twitter.com/uZCNeq0CGE
— CAF (@CAF_Online) January 8, 2019
Seen at the 2018 CAF Awards in Dakar, Senegal @Banyana_Banyana @SAFA_net @SasolLeague @BafanaBafana @COSAFAMEDIA @SasolSA @Masandawana @descaptain @KgatlanaJnr11 @ThulaniThuswa @markfish74 @thulaganyo20 @SAFPU_Official @Nokomatlou11 @DennisOnyangoGM pic.twitter.com/Y74rOpfAok
— SAFA.net (@SAFA_net) January 8, 2019
The biggest achievement for Ellis and her side was qualifying for a first appearance at the Fifa Women’s World Cup that will be hosted in France in June this year.
Striker Kgatlana was recognised for her fine form throughout 2018, which included finishing as the top goal scorer at the Women’s Afcon, finding the opposition net on five occasions, including the winning goal against Nigeria in their first group game of the tournament.
That goal was also voted as the Goal of the Year at the awards ceremony to cap off a fine evening for South African football.
