SAFA has confirmed that the U17 national women’s side Bantwana will not be partaking in the upcoming 2025 COSAFA U17 Women’s Championship due to educational reasons.
On Thursday, South Africa was a notable absentee from the draw for event to be held in Namibia between 10-17 May 2025.
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This year alone, Bantwana has participated in the FIFA U17 World Cup qualifiers against Gabon over two legs and then against Nigeria in March were some youngsters formed part of the Banyana Banyana camp against Lesotho in February.
SAFA has since released a statement that the girls have missed a lot of school days and as part of their mandate to keep kids in school, the absence of the team is to balance their schoolwork.
Considering that there is still the CAF African Schools Championships in Ghana later in the year, this is an opportunity for the girls to get some rest.
“SAFA took this decision in an effort to help the players focus more on their education. The Association has the responsibility of balancing education with football, especially for the younger players. The pool of U17 Women’s National Team players, some of whom are as young as 15 years old, have missed a lot of school since the beginning of the year while attending various preparation camps and also participating in the FIFA U17 World Cup qualifiers.
“Bantwana started the year with the FIFA U17 World Cup qualifiers against Gabon, home and away, in January. They were also involved in a training camp in February to help the team prepare for qualifying matches against Nigeria that further took them out of school between 7-16 March 2025. Some of the players were also selected for the Sasol-sponsored Banyana Banyana in February and missed classes from 17-26 February when they played two international friendly games against Lesotho.
“The Association is now preparing for the CAF African Schools Football Championship, which will be staged in Ghana, which means more school hours will be missed by the players in the squad in April. As a result, the Association has decided not to enter the team to participate in the COSAFA U17 Championship in May to afford the players an opportunity to catch up with schooling before the mid-year break, noting that their success in school is also as important as playing football,” the statement read.
