South Africa’s national women’s soccer team is ready to bring “nationhood, patriotism and [the] essence of Ubuntu” to this summer’s FIFA Women’s World Cup through their new kits unveiled this week.
The team — nicknamed “Banyana Banyana” (“The Girls”) — launched the new kits made by Le Coq Sportif on social media channels on Thursday and Friday. Le Coq Sportif and the South African Football Association (SAFA) solicited designs from the public for all three kits, and put them to a vote in late 2022. The winning designs were submitted by Lwazi Cedrick Ngcungama, but tweaked to conform to FIFA rules before being released.
The home kit is primarily yellow, with green collars and sleeve cuffs. The front and back of the shirt feature an abstract tonal pattern loosely based on the South African flag. The national team crest appears on the left chest while the SAFA logo is on the right chest and Le Coq Sportif’s logo sits in the middle.
The away kit, meanwhile, is a “celebration of Banyana’s success” in the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, which was held in Morocco. South Africa beat the host country 2-1 in the final to claim their first continental championship after finishing as runners-up five times.
It’s primarily green, again with an abstract tonal pattern on the front and back. The crew neck collar and right sleeve cuff are green, while a side panel and the sleeve cuff on the left side of the jersey are colored gold.
The third kit is loosely based on the kits the South African men’s team wore at the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations, where they beat Tunisia 2-0 in the final on home soil in Johannesburg. It’s mostly white with horizontal gold stripes running, but a section of navy blue with white stripes cuts diagonally across the front of the jersey. The gold stripes continue on the right sleeve, but the left sleeve has navy blue diagonal stripes. The side panels are green, as is the crew neck collar, while the sleeve cuffs are navy blue with a white pattern.
South Africa will play in Group G at the Women’s World Cup, along with three Adidas-outfitted countries: Sweden, Italy and Argentina.
🇩🇰 DENMARK 🇩🇰
Meanwhile, the Danish women’s national team also launched new home and away kits earlier this month.
Made by Hummel, both the red home and away kits feature comic book-style pop art graphics all over. Most of the graphics are tonal, but some contrasting graphics appear near the side panels and on the sleeves. Both kits feature a red collar with a white stripe through the middle and contrasting Hummel chevrons on the shoulders.
The video accompanying the kit launch depicts Danish players as superheroes on a quest to bring home the title from Australia and New Zealand this summer.
Denmark will play in Group D during the Women’s World Cup alongside England, Haiti and China.
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