Banyana Banyana Make History as First African Team to Beat Japan
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Banyana Banyana Make History as First African Team to Beat Japan

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Sasol Banyana Banyana beat Japan 1-0 to share their two-match international friendly series and write themselves into the history books as the first African team to beat Nadeshiko Japan, bouncing back from a heavy defeat three days earlier, at J-Green Sakai in Osaka, Japan on Tuesday, 9 June 2026.

The win levelled the series at one match each and stands as a landmark result for South African women’s football, with no African side having beaten Japan before. Three days earlier, the same opponents had handed South Africa a 5-0 lesson in the opening friendly, which made the response all the more striking. 

Against the reigning AFC Women’s Asian Cup champions and former world champions, ranked fifth in the world to South Africa’s 59th, head coach Dr Desiree Ellis got exactly the answer she wanted.

The brief after the first match was straightforward. Japan had scored early and often, and South Africa never recovered. Ellis wanted her players to stay compact, cut out the early mistakes and make Japan work for every opening. On Tuesday they did exactly that.

Linda Motlhalo’s ninth-minute header made the difference against the fifth-ranked side in the world. Photo: SAFA
Linda Motlhalo’s ninth-minute header made the difference against the fifth-ranked side in the world.
Photo: SAFA

South Africa scored in the ninth minute and made it count. Thembi Kgatlana drove at the Japanese defence down the flank and won a corner. Captain Refiloe Jane delivered it, and Linda Motlhalo got above her marker to head the ball past the goalkeeper. It was the only goal of the match, and Banyana spent the rest of the game protecting it.

There was a double cause for celebration. Jane was winning her 150th cap, becoming only the fourth South African to reach the mark, joining the retired trio of Janine van Wyk, Noko Matlou and Mpumelelo Nyandeni. The captain marked the occasion in the best way possible, with the assist and a full shift leading the team through long spells of defending.

Japan dominated the ball after going behind and kept coming. They strung together patient passing moves and forced Banyana to defend deep and in numbers. South Africa gave up most of the possession and were heavily outshot, with Japan having 17 attempts on goal to three and taking seven corners to one. For long stretches it was one-way traffic.

Japan also had the players to punish any lapse. Their side included Brighton and Hove Albion’s Kiko Seike, who had scored in the first meeting, and experienced captain Saki Kumagai, and they pushed hard for an equaliser to the finish. Banyana never let them find a clear way through. They kept probing through the closing stages, but the South Africans stayed switched on, won their headers and blocked the shots that came.

Captain Refiloe Jane supplied the assist on the day she became the fourth South African to reach 150 caps. Photo: SAFA
Captain Refiloe Jane supplied the assist on the day she became the fourth South African to reach 150 caps.
Photo: SAFA

The clean sheet held because the defence kept its shape and its concentration. Kaylin Swart, back in goal, was outstanding. She commanded her area, came for crosses and made the saves when they were needed. 

In front of her, Bambanani Mbane, Karabo Dhlamini, Antonia Maponya and Fikile Magama put their bodies on the line, tracked runners and cleared their lines, with the midfield and forwards dropping back to help whenever Japan built pressure.

Kaylin Swart kept a clean sheet under sustained pressure from the hosts to ensure the series shared.
Photo: SAFA

The result also justified the way Ellis used the tour. She took stock in the first match, then freshened her side, bringing Swart, Kgatlana and Bongeka Gamede into the starting eleven and again giving Nthabiseng Majiya a job to do. The squad coped with the changes without losing its structure, which is what a coach wants to see when the main aim of the trip is to learn about the group.

That is the value of fixtures like these. There is no tougher way to prepare for a continental tournament than to play Japan twice in three days. The first match showed the gap at the top of the world game. 

Kaylin Swart kept a clean sheet under sustained pressure from the hosts to ensure the series shared. Photo: SAFA
Kaylin Swart kept a clean sheet under sustained pressure from the hosts to ensure the series shared.
Photo: SAFA

The second showed the lessons had been taken on board, with South Africa absorbing the pressure, defending as a unit and taking their chance when it came.

Banyana now look ahead to the defence of their title. As the reigning African champions, who won the trophy in 2022, they travel to the CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco later in July, drawn alongside Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Tanzania. 

The tournament also doubles as a qualifier for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil, so the stakes are high, and Ellis will want her players going in with confidence.

This historic win should help with that. Losing 5-0 and then beating the same opponent 1-0, with a clean sheet, three days later takes character and hard work, and doing it as the first African team to topple Japan makes it a result to remember. 

South Africa will need to create and score more once WAFCON starts, but the basics were all there in Osaka: organisation, a solid defence and a refusal to be beaten twice. Banyana Banyana came home with a shared series, a place in the history books and plenty to build on.

Banyana Banyana International Friendlies Fixtures List vs Japan in Osaka, Japan

Sat, 6 June: Japan 5-0 South Africa (Yanmar Hanasaka Stadium)
Tue, 9 June: Japan 0-1 South Africa (J-Green Sakai)

South Africa Starting XI

1 Kaylin Swart (Goalkeeper)
13 Bambanani Mbane
7 Karabo Dhlamini
20 Antonia Maponya
5 Fikile Magama
15 Refiloe Jane (Captain)
3 Bongeka Gamede
10 Linda Motlhalo
6 Noxolo Cesane
23 Nthabiseng Majiya
11 Thembi Kgatlana

Substitutes

16 Andile Dlamini (Goalkeeper)
36 Kebotseng Moletsane (Goalkeeper)
4 Lonathemba Mhlongo
32 Isabella Ludwig
17 Sinegugu Zondi
14 Nonhlanhla Mthandi
30 Wendy Shongwe
9 Gabriela Moodaly-Salgado
12 Bonolo Mokoma
27 Thoriso Mphelo
37 Asanda Hadebe

Japan Starting XI

12 Chika Hirao (Goalkeeper)
5 Miyabi Moriya
4 Saki Kumagai
21 Akari Takeshige
22 Yu Endo
17 Remina Chiba
16 Juri Ito
18 Honoka Hayashi
20 Yuka Momiki
9 Manaka Matsukubo
8 Kiko Seike

Substitutes

1 Ayaka Yamashita (Goalkeeper)
23 Akane Okuma (Goalkeeper)
2 Risa Shimizu
13 Hikaru Kitagawa
3 Moeka Minami
6 Toko Koga
14 Yui Hasegawa
10 Fuka Nagano
7 Hinata Miyazawa
15 Aoba Fujino
19 Momoko Tanikawa

Main Photo Caption: Linda Motlhalo’s header beats the goalkeeper for the goal that makes Sasol Banyana Banyana the first African team to beat Japan, a historic 1-0 win that shared the international friendly series, at J-Green Sakai in Osaka, Japan on Tuesday, 9 June 2026. Photo: SABC Plus Screenshot

Photo 2 Caption: Linda Motlhalo’s ninth-minute header made the difference against the fifth-ranked side in the world. Photo: SAFA

Photo 3 Caption: Captain Refiloe Jane supplied the assist on the day she became the fourth South African to reach 150 caps. Photo: SAFA

Photo 4 Caption: Kaylin Swart kept a clean sheet under sustained pressure from the hosts to ensure the series shared. Photo: SAFA

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