Desiree Ellis admitted that the Banyana Banyana’s failure to qualify for the Olympics is a setback for women’s football in South Africa.
The African champions were held to a 0-0 draw by Nigeria in Pretoria on Tuesday night.
The result was not enough to see them through with the Super Falcons having won the first leg 1-0 in Abuja last week.
‘It’s a big disappointment not just for us but for everyone involved in women’s football because we didn’t go in 2020, we were in a similar situation where we had so many chances to – but didn’t go to the next round.
“Likewise we didn’t go to the Olympics because of this, it will take a while to recover from this though,” said Ellis.
Banyana Banyana will now shift attention to the defence of their WAFCON title this summer.