Moodaly-Salgados Become First Married Pair at WAFCON

A landmark moment in African women’s football arrived in Casablanca on Monday as South Africa’s Robyn Moodaly-Salgado and Gabriela Moodaly-Salgado became the first married couple to feature together in a single Women’s Africa Cup of Nations fixture, even as the defending champions stumbled to a surprise defeat.

Both players were named by head coach Desiree Ellis in the starting picture for the Group B opener against Tanzania on July 27, 2026. According to widely circulated reports, their joint appearance marked the first time in the tournament’s history that spouses had shared the pitch in the same match. The occasion, however, was tempered by the result, as Banyana Banyana went down 2-1 to Tanzania in one of the early upsets of the competition.

The 2026 edition, staged in Morocco from July 26 to August 16, is organised by the Confederation of African Football, which first held the continental women’s championship in 1991. South Africa arrived as reigning champions, having lifted their maiden title in 2022 with a final win over the host nation, and are making their 14th appearance at the finals. The stakes stretch beyond the trophy, as the leading sides at WAFCON 2026 secure passage to qualifying for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil.

For the Moodaly-Salgados, the tournament carries a strong thread of return and recovery. Robyn, a midfielder previously known as Robyn Moodaly, was recalled after last representing the senior side in 2023 and a spell away from the game. Gabriela, formerly Gabriela Salgado, returned from a serious injury, having fractured her left leg during the semi-final against Nigeria at the previous WAFCON in July 2025, a setback that ruled her out for the remainder of that year. Both feature in the current squad as midfield options and play their club football for JVW.

The couple, who have openly shared aspects of their relationship with supporters, have become among the more recognisable figures in the South African setup. Several reports framed their joint outing as a marker of the growing visibility of same-sex athletes in women’s football on the continent, though the players themselves have not tied the moment to any wider statement in public remarks.

South Africa’s defeat leaves Ellis’s side under early pressure in a group that also contains Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso. Banyana face the Ivorians on July 31 and Burkina Faso on August 4, with the top two teams in each pool advancing to the quarter-finals. The champions will need a swift response to avoid a premature exit from a tournament they entered as favourites in many quarters.

Ellis’s 26-player squad blended experience with fresh faces, retaining 17 members from the previous edition while adding nine newcomers, among them 18-year-old Zoe October, the youngest in the group. The technical team had trimmed a preliminary list of 31 players before departing for North Africa in mid-July.

While the loss to Tanzania dominated the sporting headlines, the presence of the Moodaly-Salgados added a distinct chapter to a competition that continues to expand both in scale and in the stories it produces. Their campaign, and that of the defending champions, now hinges on the matches to come.