Safa is understood to have turned down international friendly match requests from Germany and Switzerland to play against Banyana Banyana but opted for Botswana.
According to Safa insiders, the local football association could not accept the team playing the matches in Europe as they preferred a home game as a send-off to the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup.
Instead, South Africa ended up inviting Botswana for a chaotic match in which they fielded a second-string squad last Sunday at Tsakane Stadium.
Already, Banyana players were not happy with engaging their neighbours and were keen on stronger opposition.
They protested against playing Botswana and the state of the pitch at Tsakane while also being involved in strike action over World Cup bonuses which were a major bone of contention.
When contacted for comment, Safa spokesperson Mninawa Ntloko referred all questions to the association’s chief executive officer Lydia Monyepao, who was unavailable for comment.
But without mentioning names, Banyana coach Desiree Ellis confirmed there were teams not willing to come to South Africa for matches.
“It’s important that we wanted to play a home-friendly match,” Ellis told SABC Sport.
“A lot of countries did not want to come to South Africa because they wanted to play in their countries as the send-off match.
“That was a difficult part of getting quality opposition to come here and play a send-off match. We also needed to say thank you to the fans, and thank you to the people of South Africa before we leave to make sure they see the team and get to interact with the players.
“That’s the unfortunate part — that some countries did not want to come here because they had their own send-off games.”
Both Germany and Switzerland ended up engaging Zambia as an alternative.
The Germans needed an African opposition as they are set to play Morocco in their group at the World Cup.
Meanwhile, the first batch of Banyana players arrived in Wellington, New Zealand on Thursday while the second group is expected to touch down on Friday.