Amanda Sinegugu Dlamini (born 22 July 1988) is a former South African

soccer player A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who is currently a soccer analyst and football administrator. She represented the South Africa women's national team at the

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

(as the captain) and

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

. Dlamini won her maiden national title with JVW in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

. In 2024 she became the first woman to commentate a match at the

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

Early career

Dlamini was born in Harding in

KwaZulu Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

. She started playing soccer in 1999 for a boys' team, Young Callies.

Club career

At a club level, Dlamini has played for Durban Ladies and the UJ Ladies. She was part of the UJ Ladies team that won the inaugural Varsity Women's Football Cup in 2013. Dlamini played for JVW FC and was part of the team that won the 2019 Sasol League Championship.

International career

She made her debut for the senior national team in 2007 in a 5–0 loss to

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

in an Olympic qualifier. She scored her first international goal against Netherlands. She was the top goalscorer of the 2008 Sasol Women's League. She was part of the squads that won bronze and silver medals at the

2010 African Women's Championship The 2010 African Women's Championship was held in South Africa from 31 October to 14 November 2010. Seven national teams joined the host nation following a series of knock-out home and away ties. This tournament was also a qualification tournam ...

and

2012 African Women's Championship The 2012 African Women's Championship was a football competition, which was organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The final tournament was held in from 28 October to 11 November in Equatorial Guinea. Qualification A total of ...

; at the 2010 championships, she was named Most Valuable Player. She was captain of the national team between 2011 and 2013. She became the fifth female football player to win 100 caps for South Africa following a friendly match against the United States in July 2016, following

Janine van Wyk Janine van Wyk (born 17 April 1987) is a former South African professional Association football, soccer Defender (association football), defender, Manager (association football), coach, and owner of JVW F.C., a club she founded and bears her nam ...

, Nompumelelo Nyandeni,

Portia Modise Portia Modise (born 20 June 1983) is a South African footballer who was named Player of the Championship at the 2006 Women's African Football Championship. She represented the South Africa national team at the 2012 London Olympics. She became ...

and

Noko Matlou Noko Alice Matlou (born 30 September 1985) is a South African professional soccer player who plays as a defender for Spanish Primera Federación side CP Cacereño Femenino. She has played for the South Africa women's national team both as a ...

. Prior to the game, she said "It has always been a dream of mine to play for the national team, I have never wanted to do anything else but play football. I am what I am today because of the game. I have given so much to the game and to see myself so close to the 100 caps makes me very emotional". In the same match, American goalkeeper

Hope Solo Hope Amelia Stevens (; born July 30, 1981) is an American former soccer goalkeeper. She was a goalkeeper for the United States women's national soccer team from 2000 to 2016, and is a World Cup champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist. Aft ...

won her 100th cap for the United States. She retired from international football in January 2018.

Personal life

In 2012, she founded the Amanda Dlamini Girls Foundation aiming to provide basic help to girls in rural areas.

Outside Football

Media She is currently a soccer analyst at South African sports broadcaster Supersport. In 2024 she became the first woman to commentate a match at the

. Her first match being the

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

match at the

2023 Africa Cup of Nations The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, known in short as the 2023 AFCON or CAN 2023 and for sponsor (commercial), sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, was the 34th edition of the biennial Africa Cup of Nations tournam ...

. Administration In July 2021, she was appointed as the Senior Commercial and Marketing Manager of the

South African Football Association The South African Football Association (colloquially known as SAFA) is the national administrative governing body that controls the sport of football in the Republic of South Africa (RSA) and is a member of the Confederation of African Footbal ...

(SAFA)

Honours

UJ Ladies F.C. Varsity Women's Football Cup: 2013 JVW

SAFA Women's League The SAFA Women's League, known as Hollywoodbets Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the top flight of women's association football in South Africa. The competition is run by the South African Football Association. The league comprises 16 ( ...

: 2019

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dlamini, Amanda 1988 births Living people People from uMuziwabantu Local Municipality Zulu people South African women's soccer players Women's association football midfielders South Africa women's international soccer players Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic soccer players for South Africa University of Johannesburg alumni FIFA Women's Century Club Sports commentators Women sports commentators Women association football commentators Association football commentators 21st-century South African sportswomen