Uganda edge Spar Proteas 56–53 in Africa Netball Cup final; SA men retain title

Uganda beat South Africa 56–53 in the women’s Africa Netball Cup final in Nairobi on Saturday, 26 September, ending the Spar Proteas’ title defence. South Africa’s men finished the same tournament as champions, defeating Eswatini 49–45 in their final.

World Netball’s official results list the women’s decider at the Moi International Sports Centre in Kasarani as a three-goal win for Uganda. The She Cranes reached the final after beating Namibia 52–41 in the semi-final, while South Africa beat Malawi 62–46.

Uganda went through the competition unbeaten, according to SuperSport’s tournament report. South Africa finished as runners-up in the women’s event, with Malawi taking third place after a 50–45 win over Namibia.

The men’s final gave South Africa a second consecutive continental title. Eswatini were runners-up after a close contest; South Africa had also beaten them 43–36 earlier in the event. Uganda finished third in the men’s competition after defeating hosts Kenya 46–35 in the third-place play-off.

The tournament ran alongside Africa’s qualification event for the 2027 Netball World Cup. World Netball says both South Africa and Uganda had already qualified through their December 2025 world rankings and therefore were not competing for the two remaining African places.

Malawi and Namibia emerged as the additional African teams to be invited to the World Cup, SuperSport reported. The Nairobi finals settled the continental titles separately from those qualification places.