Desiree Ellis (born 14 March 1963) is a South African soccer manager and former

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who i ...

. She currently coaches the South Africa women's national team. As a player, Ellis played club soccer for 24 years with South African, Irish, and English club teams, primarily playing as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. Her longest club spell was for Spurs Ladies, with whom she played for 11 total years. Internationally, she represented and was a founding member of the South Africa women's national team, which officially formed in 1993 following SAFA's admission to

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

in 1992. At 30 years old, she debuted for South Africa as vice captain of the team's first-ever official match, a 13-0 win against

Eswatini Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where i ...

(formerly Swaziland). Ellis continued to play soccer for the next 9 years, retiring in 2002 at the age of 39. As coach of the South Africa women's national team since 2016, she coached ''Banyana Banyana'' to a runners-up finish at the

2018 Women's Africa Cup of Nations The 2018 Women's Africa Cup of Nations (officially known as the Total Women's Africa Cup Of Nations, Ghana 2018) was the 13th edition of the Africa Women Cup of Nations, Africa Women Cup of Nations (formerly African Women's Championship), the bien ...

(WAFCON), qualifying them for their first ever Women's World Cup tournament, the

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football, football championship contested by 24 List of women's national association football teams, women's ...

. In 2022, she coached the team to their first ever WAFCON title, which also qualified them to their second Women's World Cup tournament. At the 2023 Women's World Cup, the team qualified to the knockout rounds of the tournament for the first time in their history, bowing out in the Round of 16 after facing

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. For her accomplishments with Banyana Banyana, she has been given CAF Women's Coach of the Year honors every year from 2018 to 2023, totaling four awards. In April 2023, Ellis was bestowed the National Order of Ikhamanga by the South African Government for her contributions to soccer.

Early life

Ellis was born on 14 March 1963 to father Ernest Ellis (d. 1989) and mother Natalie in Salt River, a suburb of

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

. As a child, she stayed at her grandmother's home after school as both her parents worked during the day. There were no women's clubs then, and she played soccer with boys and her cousins. After school she would drop off her school bag, change her clothes and run outside to her waiting teammates. Her father often threatened to send her to school barefoot because she would ruin her shoes while playing soccer. She attended Dryden Street Primary School and Salt River High School.

Club career

Ellis eventually found another women's club (Athlone Celtic was the first club she played for), Spurs Ladies while she still worked at a butchery in Lansdowne mixing spices. She once left town with the club over a weekend, promising her employers that she'd return in time for work but the vehicle the team was travelling in broke down on the way home, making her fail to arrive on time. Consequently, Ellis was fired.

International career

Ellis went for trials for the national team and passed. She would feature in the team's first international match. She debuted against

Swaziland Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where ...

at the age of 30 on 30 May 1993 in a 14–0 win. Ellis scored a hat-trick, as did two other players. During the 1995 World Cup qualifiers, South Africa beat

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

and

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on aggregate, 10–1, 11–5 and 6–4 but lost to

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11–2. When

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

hosted the

2000 African Women's Championship The 2000 African Women's Championship was the 4th edition of the biennial African women's association football tournament organized by Confederation of African Football and the second to be hosted by a country. It was held in South Africa betwee ...

, she captained the side to a runner-up finish. In 2000, Ellis was nominated alongside

Mercy Akide Mercy Joy Akide Udoh (; born 26 August 1975) is a Nigerian former footballer who played as a midfielder for the Nigeria women's national football team. Early life Mercy started playing football at the age of five with her oldest brother Seleipi ...

and Florence Omagbemi for African Woman Footballer of the Year. She was recognized for her services to soccer the same year when she received a Silver Presidential Sports Award. She also led Banyana Banyana to the 2002 COSAFA Cup victory. In her 32 caps for South Africa she won 23 matches, lost seven and drew two. She retired from soccer in April 2002 at the age of 38.

Coaching career

Ellis was appointed interim manager of the

South Africa women's national soccer team The South Africa women's national football team represents South Africa in women's international soccer and is run by the South African Football Association, the governing body for Soccer in South Africa. Nicknamed Banyana Banyana (The Girls in ...

in 2016 after Vera Pauw resigned following the team's group stage exit at the 2016 Olympics. Ellis was appointed head coach in February 2018 and coached the team, then ranked 50th in the world, to a second-place finish in the

Africa Women Cup of Nations The Women's Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON), known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies Women's Africa Cup of Nations and formerly the African Women's Championship, is a biennial international women's football tournament organized by ...

, losing to 11-time champions Nigeria on penalty kicks in the final; nonetheless, by finishing second, South Africa qualified to its first-ever

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

. She was awarded

Confederation of African Football The Confederation of African Football (CAF) is the administrative and controlling body for association football, beach soccer, and futsal in Africa. It was established on 8 February 1957 at the ''Grand Hotel'' in Khartoum, Sudan. At the FIFA Co ...

Women's Coach of the Year in 2018, 2019 and 2022. Ellis coached Banyana Banyana to their maiden Africa Cup of Nations victory in

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in 2022. She made history with Banyana Banyana by beating

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and making it to the final sixteen in the

2023 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international women's association football, football championship contested by List of women's national association football teams, women's nat ...

. In September 2023, she won the Momentum Coach of the Year award at the 18th edition of Africa’s foremost women’s sport awards at the Wanderers Club in Johannesburg. In December 2023, she won the

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Women's Coach of the Year award for the 4th time, for her team's efforts at the 2023 World Cup. Ellis had previously won at the

CAF Awards The CAF Awards is an awards evening held to honour the best African association football players. It is conferred by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). History The CAF Awards was first awarded in the year 2000. It is an award conteste ...

in 2022, 2019 and 2018. She was ranked 7th in the

IFFHS The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...

Women's World Best National Coach ranking for 2023.

Outside soccer

Administration

Ellis had many administration occupations during her playing career. She was the vice-president of Western Province Women's Football Association from 1994 to 1995, and was the PRO of the association from 1996 to 1997. She worked as a chief librarian at the photo agency Touchline in 2001.

Media

Ellis can be seen on TV as a soccer commentator and a pundit on local television station e-TV. She was an ambassador for the

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

. She also worked at

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as a picture editor.

Honours

Player

South Africa *

COSAFA Women's Championship The COSAFA Women's Championship is an association football tournament for teams from Southern Africa organized by Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA). South Africa have won the most titles with seven wins. Zambia are the curr ...

: 2002 *

Women's Africa Cup of Nations The Women's Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON), known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies Women's Africa Cup of Nations and formerly the African Women's Championship, is a biennial international women's football tournament organized by ...

runners-up:

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

Individual *Mobil Achievement Award by WP Sportswriters: 1980 *SAFA Women's Inter-provincials: 1986, 1989, 1992 *Foschini Cape Woman Football Player of the Year: 1989, 1993 *WP Player of the Year: 1983, 1993 *Sanlam Sports Star of the Month (November): 2000 *SAFA Special Recognition Gold Award: 2001 *

Presidential Presidential may refer to: * "Presidential" (song), a 2005 song by YoungBloodZ * Presidential Airways (charter), an American charter airline based in Florida * Presidential Airways (scheduled), an American passenger airline active in the 1980s * ...

Sports Silver Award: 2001 *Mandisa Shiceka Role Model Award by ANC Youth League: 2001

Manager

South Africa *

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, runners-up:

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

Aisha Buhari Cup Aisha Buhari Invitational tournament is a football tournament organized by the Nigeria Football Federation for the female national team. History The Inaugural edition was held in Lagos with both FIFA and CAF president honoring the event The Sout ...

: 2021 Individual *

Sports Minister Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in a p ...

's Excellence Award: 2017 *

Women's Coach of the Year: 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023 *Momentum Coach of the Year: 2023 *

Women's World Best National Coach: 7th

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellis, Desiree Living people 1963 births Women's association football midfielders South African women's soccer players South Africa women's international soccer players South African expatriate women's soccer players South Africa women's national soccer team managers Soccer players from Cape Town 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup managers South African soccer managers Female association football managers Recipients of the Order of Ikhamanga 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup managers