 Ellis in 2019 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Desiree Ellis[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 14 March 1963[2] | ||
| Place of birth | Salt River, Cape Town, South Africa | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | South Africa (manager) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Saban United | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1978–1984 | Athlone Celtic | 126 | (51) |
| 1985–1986 | Wynberg St Johns | 44 | (22) |
| 1987–1988 | Joyces United | 46 | (28) |
| 1989–1990 | St. Albans City | 54 | (36) |
| 1991–2002 | Spurs Ladies | 330 | (231) |
| Total | 600 | (368) | |
| International career | |||
| 1993–2002 | South Africa | 32 | (6) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2006–2016 | Spurs Ladies | ||
| 2016– | South Africa Women | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 15 August 2014 | |||
Desiree Ellis OIG (born 14 March 1963) is a South African soccer manager and former player. 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. 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 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 (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 (WAFCON), qualifying them for their first ever Women's World Cup tournament, the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. 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 the Netherlands.
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 to four awards. In April 2023, Ellis was bestowed the National Order of Ikhamanga by the South African Government for her contributions to soccer.[3][4]
- ^ "FIFA Women's World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023 – Squad List: South Africa (RSA)" (PDF). FIFA. 11 July 2023. p. 26. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
- ^ FIFA.com. "FIFA Women's World Cup France 2019™ - Coaches - {coach_hint}". www.fifa.com. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
- ^ Hemmonsbey, Keanan (28 April 2023). "OFF FIELD RECOGNITION: Injured Kolisi honoured with National Order of Ikhamanga". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
- ^ Khumalo, Juniour. "Siya Kolisi, Desiree Ellis, Tracy Chapman among 32 bestowed national orders by Ramaphosa". News24. Retrieved 2 May 2023.