Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) will confer an honorary doctorate on Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis at its graduation ceremony on Thursday. Ellis, a four-time African Coach of the Year, will receive the accolade for her significant achievements as a professional sportsperson and head coach of the South African women’s football team, Banyana Banyana.
Ellis is the most successful coach in the history of Banyana Banyana. She led the team to their maiden Women’s Africa Cup of Nations title in 2022 in Morocco. Under her leadership – since taking over the team in 2016 – Banyana qualified for back to back FIFA Women’s World Cups. They made their debut in the global showpiece in France in 2019, and returned to feature at the 2023 edition co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand.
Ellis’ Banyana made history Down Under, becoming the first South African senior national team to advance to the last 16 of the World Cup. The team couldn’t add to this by qualifying for the Olympics in Paris later this year, losing to arch-nemesis Nigeria in the last hurdle.
Ellis is a highly decorated coach who has been named as the best in women’s football by the Confederation of African Football four times. She received the Coach of the Year accolade from the continent’s governing body in 2018, 2019, 2022 and 2023. President Cyril Ramaphosa also honoured the 61-year-old with the Order of Ikhamanga in Gold.
Apartheid robbed her of her good years playing for her national team. But she refused to give up when the country was re-admitted to international football in 1992 – two years before South Africa became a democratic dispensation. She earned more than 30 caps in her eight years as a Banyana player, including coaching them.
In 2014, she was appointed assistant coach to Dutch coach Vera Pauw who helped take the team to the next level and qualify for the Games in Brazil. Ellis took over from Pauw in 2016, first on an interim basis before the title was made permanent and she transformed the team – leading them to continental glory while the number of South African women’s footballers plying their trade abroad drastically grew.
