Nigeria’s first opponent at the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations tournament is South Africa’s Banyana Banyana and they have been immensely motivated to go all the way to win their first WAFCON title in Morocco.
The South Africa Football Association president Danny Joordan revealed on Tuesday that each of the squad members will go home with R400,000 (about N10 million) if they win the trophy.
“We are going to pay R9.2m in bonuses for this team on the basis that they win the tournament. If they win Afcon we will pay R9.2m. If you look at the other costs, our total investment in this team for this tournament will be R10m,” revealed Joordan.
“The first match is probably the match of the tournament against Nigeria, who are ranked number one on the continent, and SA are ranked number three. That is the opening match and it is a very important match for us.
“This is our commitment and confidence for this team. This R10m is the highest ever paid to any national team for both men and women and you have broken the barriers. You have the highest amount ever paid to any national team in the history of SA football.”
South Africa is in the same group as Nigeria, Botswana, and Burundi. Nigeria has won the tournament nine times, while the South Africans have been runners-up five times but they have been highly motivated to snag the ultimate prize.
“We have to make sure we get a positive result from the first match because that will set the tone for the rest of the tournament,” Desiree Ellis told South Africa Times.
“It will also be naïve of us to go to the tournament and not set a goal of winning it. I think we will be no different from any other country in wanting to win it.
The South Africans are up against the Super Falcons on July 4 at the Stade Prince Moulay EL Hassan in Rabat by 10 pm Nigeria time.
