The Banyana effect: History-makers inspire next-gen in promising teen Saaniyah Domingo

Banyana Banyana winning the Women's Africa Cup of Nations is still reverberating across the country, months after the team made history in Morocco.

They were the first South African women's team to lift the continental tournament, which their male counterparts Bafana Bafana hoisted in 1996.

The win over hosts Morocco in July marked a seminal moment for the women's game in South Africa, one that's seen head coach Desiree Ellis' charges inspire the next wave of talented girls to grace the pitch.

One such talent is Spanish club RCD Espanyol de Barcelona Academy product Saaniyah Domingo, who could find herself playing in the IberCup, one of the premier youth tournaments in the world, in Barcelona next year.

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Born and bred in Claremont, Johannesburg, the 15-year-old Saaniyah, who plays as a right winger, fell in love with football when she was 9.

She started by tagging along to watch her elder sister Shaziah play soccer at Wits and she got hooked.

"I started getting into soccer when I was 9 and I would go home after that because I couldn't be part of the Wits team with my sister," Saaniyah tells Sport24.

"At home, I'd watch soccer matches on my own and YouTube tutorials on how to do certain skills on the pitch.

"I taught myself how to juggle and all that. When I turned 12, my mom saw that I was starting to get into football more and my aunt told her to send me to SuperSport Soccer Schools.

"That's where I actually developed my skills. They helped me a lot.

"But being the only female there was difficult because the boys thought, 'She's a girl; what does she know about football?'

"But they instilled toughness in me and that made me the