Bunmi Ogunyale
Members of the South Africa football team, Bayana Bayana have been offered the sum of N4.1million each to win the African Women Cup of Nations title in Ghana.
According to a South Africa website, TimesLive‚ each player will go home with R160‚000 if they lift the trophy in Ghana.
The 21 players will also are guaranteed R40‚000 as appearance fee in the tournament.
Banyana Banyana captain Janine van Wyk thanked the SA Football Association (Safa) for putting in incentives that could drive her team to win the 2018 African Women’s Cup of Nations.
“Definitely we have to thank Safa for putting these incentives on the table‚” said Van Wyk‚ who is going to Ghana with 154 caps under her belt.
“Obviously as a player the incentives motivate you but that’s one source of encouragement.
“It’s a big encouragement for our team to go out and give our best and get the results that we want.”
Van Wyk said the experience within the current Banyana should be good enough to help them win the tournament.
“I personally feel that this is probably the most experienced and strong team to go to Awcon‚” said the Boksburg-born central defender.
“There’s over four to five players who have over 100 caps and there’s more than four players playing competitive football overseas.
“So that makes this team extremely experienced and I feel that with the preparation we’ve had throughout the whole year‚ we stand a really good chance in also qualifying for the World Cup by finishing amongst the top three in Ghana.”
Banyana are pitted against Nigeria‚ Zambia and Kenya for the tournament which starts on Saturday‚ November 17 in Ghana.
The South Africans are yet to win a Women’s Nations Cup despite qualifying for 12 of the previous 13 editions.
Banyana will open their campaign in Ghana against defending champions Nigeria on November 18.