South Africa’s senior women’s soccer side arrived in Turkey on Wednesday. Banyana Banyana are set to participate in the Turkish Women’s Cup as part of preparation for the Fifa Women’s World Cup — which is now just five months away.

With the transcontinental country still picking up the pieces after a deadly earthquake struck the country and parts of neighbouring Syria — there were question marks on whether the annual tournament will continue, or indeed whether it should continue — all things considered.

An aerial photo taken by a drone shows emergency personnel during a search and rescue operation at the site of a collapsed building after an earthquake in Iskenderun, district of Hatay, Turkey on 7 February 2023. More than 4,000 people were killed and thousands more injured after a major 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey and northern Syria on 6 February. (Photo: EPA-EFE/Erdem Sahin)

The local organisers, plus the Turkish government, as well as world soccer governing body Fifa, greenlighted the tournament — which is set to take place in the city of Alanya (where the effects of the quake are not as significant as other parts of the large country).

In spite of the organisers opting not to can the tournament in the wake of the natural disaster — which has now claimed over 40,00 lives since it happened over a week ago — a couple of nations scheduled to participate have pulled out.

One of those is Venezuela, which Banyana Banyana was set to play against. The South Americans confirmed this in a state on their website.     

“The Venezuelan Football Federation informs the general public that due to the latest events in Turkey and Syria, and in solidarity with those affected in both nations, the women’s team will not be in Alanya to play the Turkish Women’s Cup 2023,” stated the Venezuelan federation.

Jordan also pulled out of the Turkish tournament, citing “the current situation there and the repercussions of the earthquake” as the reason.

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Hosts Turkey are also out of the annual event, for obvious reasons. Some of the players have relatives, friends and acquaintances that have been impacted by the unfortunate happening. The Turks were also set to be one of Banyana’s opponents.

Banyana will now only play Uzbekistan and Slovenia in the round-robin phase. The first match is on Saturday, 18 February. The second encounter is three days later. 

The South African Football Association (Safa) said it consulted “extensively” before allowing the team to depart for the grief-stricken nation.

“While the tournament is going ahead, the safety of our players and officials is very important to us and Safa has continued to carry out its mandate in a mature and responsible manner,” the association shared in a statement.

“We have engaged extensively and had discussions with the Directors for Member Associations, in particular the European Member Association manager. We engaged our own government as well as the Turkish ambassador,” said Safa.

Banyana Banyana’s Lizza Mokoena during the Cosafa Women’s Championship semifinal against Namibia at Isaac Wolfson Stadium in Gqeberha on 9 September 2022. (Photo: Richard Huggard / Gallo Images)

“We consulted the organisers of the Turkish Women’s Cup a number of times and also had discussions with Zambia, who are our neighbours and one of the participants in the Turkish Women’s Cup.”

Despite these consultations — the tournament taking place does reek of a tinge of tone-deafness. However, pulling out of the competition and finding Banyana new opponents in this Fifa international window might have proved costly for Safa and deprived Desiree Ellis’ team of much-needed match practice ahead of their second World Cup.

Though, with two of their opponents out of the tournament, they won’t be granted the type of test Ellis might have envisioned before the disaster. Nevertheless, the Banyana coach was upbeat.

“We arrived safely in the country and we were warmly welcomed by the Turkish people. We arrived at the hotel with people greeting us, it was really fantastic and welcoming,” Ellis said after her team landed on Wednesday. DM