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After a successful first year of involvement in women's football, petro-chemical giant SASOL, together with partners the South Africa Football Association (SAFA), are enthusiastic about getting the second season of their sponsorship of women's football underway, with another exciting Sasol League season and the hosting of the African Women's Championships on the cards in 2010.

At the beginning of this year (2009), SASOL formally announced their sponsorship of two very exciting campaigns in support of women's football - namely the Sasol League (which is the Provincial Women's Football League) and the National Women's Football Team, Banyana Banyana. Both these sponsorships run concurrently until 2012.

As with their former sponsorship of the Under 23 National Team, Amaglug-glug, which saw SASOL's 14-year sponsorship plough resources into developing young players, many of whom are currently playing in the senior national team, including the likes of Benni McCarthy, Aaron Mokoena, Daine Klate, Elrio van Heerden and Morgan Gould, similarly, SASOL chose to make a investment in women's football, by developing the sport amongst women.

When they're not playing football, these young women are breadwinners, mothers, students or employees - the backbone of many communities across the country - and through football, SASOL is proud to make a contribution to the upliftment and empowerment of women in South Africa.

In the past year, the financial investment from SASOL has allowed the South African Football Association, SAFA, to secure and pay for the national team to travel to some much needed international tournaments, to gain experience and exposure at international level at tournaments such as the Eight Nations Cyprus Women's Cup in March 2009 and the Women's Four Nations Tournament held in the Netherlands during the month of July.

In preparation for achieving their medium term goals over the next three-years (of finishing in the top two of the African Women's Championships to be hosted in South Africa in 2010, qualifying for the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2011 and qualifying for the 2012 Olympic Games in England in 2012), Banyana Banyana will undergo an intense preparation programme. Over the next few months, Banyana Banyana will play in more major international tournaments testing themselves against strong opposition including:

• A friendly match against Poland at home during February 2010;
• Followed by Banyana Banyana's return to the ‘by invite only' Cyprus Eight Nations Women's Cup at the end of February 2010;
• And many others, detailed in the attached 2010 Schedule of Events

But the pool of Banyana Banyana players have to be selected from a strong source, hence SASOL's investment in the Sasol League is important in that it provides a feeder system to the national team.

The Sasol League, which comprises 16 teams participating in each of the nine provincial leagues - totalling 144 teams, saw the first four provinces get underway on the weekend of 21 and 22 November, with the other five provinces kicking off this weekend on 28^th November.

In addition to the weekly fixtures taking place around the country, over the next four months SASOL and SAFA will again visit each of the nine provinces to host a one day women's football event, which includes a trials session for players, a coaching workshop for coaches and a double header fixture.

The trials for players are open to all the players in the Sasol League, and they allow Senior National Women's Team coach, Augustine Makalakalane and his selectors Joseph Makhanya and Cameron Cox, to identify new talent for possible selection to Banyana Banyana. On the same day, Makalakalane hosts a workshop with the coaches where he imparts coaching tips with all coaches in charge of women's football teams in the Sasol League, focussing on methods to train and coach female players.

The Sasol League culminates on the weekend of the 27^th and 28^th of March, and is followed by the week-long Sasol League National Championships to be held in Limpopo in May 2010, where the nine provincial winners will contest the nationals to determine the overall Sasol League champions.

In line with their sponsorship motto of “making greater South Africans”, SASOL's sponsorship of women's football is a meaningful contribution to the development of women's football wherein they're creating national heroes, sporting role models and empowered women.