What Kenya can learn from South Africa's U17 talent development model
Reading Time: 2min | Thu. 23.07.26. | 12:01
While South Africa has a solid base, Kenya largely relies on school games for emerging talents
South Africa Women's U17 head coach Ntombifuthi Khumalo has revealed why South Africa has a stable supply of U17 players, a lesson Kenya can learn from.
The Bantwana faced Junior Starlets in the third and final qualifier of the 2026 FIFA U17 World Cup with Kenya securing a 5-1 aggregate win.
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Despite the setback, South Africa has been consistent with their U17 already qualified twice to the World Cup and always reaching the advanced stages of the qualifiers.
Speaking before their match against Junior Starlets, Khumalo explained why South Africa always have a strong team in all the editions.
“We are lucky that we have the South Africa Football Association (SAFA) girls Academy, a FIFA program where we take some of the girls and nature them, we have a Talent Development System (TDS) program funded by FIFA as well as many school programs.
We have so many development programs where we get a constant supply of talents,” she said.
Some of the players in the South African starting team from the SAFA Academy include goalkeeper; Dakalo Mafumo, Alwande Mbatha, Elizabeth Molefe, Shintel Dutywa and Gladus Moloi.
Despite the setback, Khumalo is hopeful that the lessons from the qualifiers will be beneficial for the career growth of her players.
“We tried our best to qualify but that was not possible. Nonetheless, the last qualifier stage is also a huge achievement in the development journey of the girls and will help them to grow mentally and handle challenges,” she noted.
Kenya on the other hand does not have any such structures and relies on scouting talents from school games who are then brought together to form a team in every edition.
For Kenya, coach Mildred Cheche will still have the option of having over 11 players of the current squad eligible for participating in the 2027 edition.