Sundowns Ladies' Thato Letsoso calls on sponsors to invest in women's grassroots football

Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies' Thato Letsoso wants to see the next generation of women in football not having the same challenges that she and those who came before her experienced in their journey to the top. 

Letsoso, like many women who rose from the amateur ranks right up to Banyana Banyana, started playing football with boys as there were no girls' teams where she grew up.

The Bloemfontein-born defender got her first taste of structured football when she was scouted to study at TuksSport High School at the High-Performance Centre in the University of Pretoria in 2011. 

The school – which houses the South African Football Association's girls soccer academy – has nurtured more national team players than any structure in the country. 

It was the brainchild of former Banyana coach and icon of women's football, Fran Hilton-Smith, designed to make up for the lack of institutions that develop girls in the beautiful game. 

In 2019, the school boasted having two of its then current students – Sibulele Holweni and Karabo Dhlamini – part of the Banyana squad that made history at the FIFA Women's World Cup by becoming the first South African senior national team to reach the knockout stage of the global showpiece. 

Letsoso's time at the school helped her break into the national Under-17 and Under-20 sides. She graduated to Banyana and even captained the side at the 2022 Cosafa Women's Championship.  

Despite the growth of women's football – with South Africa currently home to two reigning African champions, Banyana who conquered the continent and Banyana Ba Style who lifted the CAF Women's Champions League last year – there is still little invested in its grassroots structures. 

The Sasol Women's League, with 144 teams in the country's