RISING South African soccer administrator and former SA universities national team player Thandi Merafe has been appointed media officer of Dalgha Arena in Baku, Azerbaijan, for the Fifa Under-17 Women's World Cup.

Merafe, who works for Orlando Pirates in the same capacity, was appointed by Fifa secretary-general Jerome Valcke.

She arrived in Azerbaijan on Tuesday morning with the blessing of Pirates chairman Irvin Khoza to represent South Africa in this tournament, which starts on Friday and will end on October 13.

Dalgha Arena will also host a third-place play-off game.

This will be the third time Merafe is working with Fifa after the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and 2011 Women's World Cup in Germany.

"I will be overlooking the media operations at the venue, media ticketing, liaison to the Fifa general coordinator and execute all media briefings," said Merafe, who is a law graduate from Wits University.

"It's a great honour for me to work with Fifa again.

"I would like to thank the chairman and the club for allowing me to take time off work to work with Fifa."